ARCHIVE March 28, 2026
March 28, 2026 · NL Cent

Tampa Bay Rays vs St. Louis Cardinals

March 28, 2026Busch StadiumSunny 51°F · 5 mph, Out To CF
AWAY
Tampa Bay Rays
0-2
5
vs
HOME
St. Louis Cardinals
2-0
6

Starting pitchers

AWAY · TB
Joe Boyle
Joe Boyle
IP 6
HOME · STL
Michael McGreevy
Michael McGreevy
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · TB
  1. 1 Yandy Díaz DH
  2. 2 Jonathan Aranda 1B
  3. 3 Jake Fraley RF
  4. 4 Junior Caminero 3B
  5. 5 Cedric Mullins CF
  6. 6 Chandler Simpson LF
  7. 7 Carson Williams SS
  8. 8 Richie Palacios 2B
  9. 9 Hunter Feduccia C
HOME · STL
  1. 1 JJ Wetherholt 2B
  2. 2 Iván Herrera C
  3. 3 Alec Burleson 1B
  4. 4 Masyn Winn SS
  5. 5 Nolan Gorman DH
  6. 6 Ramón Urías 3B
  7. 7 Nathan Church LF
  8. 8 Jordan Walker RF
  9. 9 Victor Scott CF

Box score

  12345678910 R
TB 0000000041 5
STL 2000000202 6

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 +0.03 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.16 vs actual lineup 3.13
  • Player execution +1.87 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.13 projection by 1.87 (scored 5)
  • Game variance +1.84 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Fraley 0-for-5 batting 3rd

HOME · St. Louis Cardinals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.18 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.85 vs actual lineup 4.67
  • Player execution +1.33 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.67 projection by 1.33 (scored 6)
  • Game variance +1.15 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Winn 0-for-4 batting 4th

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.2 – 4.8 — actual was 5 – 6.

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.