ARCHIVE March 26, 2026
March 26, 2026 · NL Cent

Tampa Bay Rays vs St. Louis Cardinals

March 26, 2026Busch StadiumPartly Cloudy 91°F · 16 mph, Out To LF
AWAY
Tampa Bay Rays
0-1
7
vs
HOME
St. Louis Cardinals
1-0
9

Starting pitchers

AWAY · TB
Drew Rasmussen
Drew Rasmussen
IP 5
HOME · STL
Matthew Liberatore
Matthew Liberatore
IP 5

Lineups

AWAY · TB
  1. 1 Yandy Díaz DH
  2. 2 Ryan Vilade LF
  3. 3 Jonathan Aranda 1B
  4. 4 Junior Caminero 3B
  5. 5 Ben Williamson 2B
  6. 6 Jonny DeLuca RF
  7. 7 Nick Fortes C
  8. 8 Cedric Mullins CF
  9. 9 Carson Williams SS
HOME · STL
  1. 1 JJ Wetherholt 2B
  2. 2 Iván Herrera DH
  3. 3 Alec Burleson 1B
  4. 4 Masyn Winn SS
  5. 5 Nolan Gorman 3B
  6. 6 Jordan Walker RF
  7. 7 Nathan Church LF
  8. 8 Pedro Pagés C
  9. 9 Victor Scott II CF

Box score

  123456789 R
TB 000016000 7
STL 001008000 9

Manager comparison

Both managers grade B- / B- entering this matchup.

AWAY · TB
Kevin Cash
B- Lineup 0.9 R Bunts 2.4 R IBBs 2.1 R
HOME · STL
Oliver Marmol
B- Lineup 1.2 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.3 R

Recent form

AWAY · TB
8-2 L1 +17 run diff
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HOME · STL
7-2 W1 +13 run diff
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Tactical analysis

RunsLeft separates manager decisions from player execution from game variance. Each card below is the same three-number framework that drives the share cards on the SPA replay page.

AWAY · Tampa Bay Rays
  • Manager lineup cost −0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.00 vs actual lineup 4.08
  • Player execution +2.92 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.08 projection by 2.92 (scored 7)
  • Game variance +3.00 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Lineup spots out of order vs season production

HOME · St. Louis Cardinals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.08 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.22 vs actual lineup 3.14
  • Player execution +5.86 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.14 projection by 5.86 (scored 9)
  • Game variance +5.78 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Herrera 0-for-4 batting 2nd

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.0 – 3.2 — actual was 7 – 9.

Keep reading

How RunsLeft analyzes games

Standard content on this page comes from the MLB Stats API. Tactical analysis comes from a per-game Monte Carlo: 10,000 simulated games against the opposing starter's ERA, both for the actual lineup the manager wrote and for the optimal arrangement of those nine players. The three numbers — manager cost, player execution, game variance — separate which part of the result was the lineup, the players, or the dice.

Read the full methodology.