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With the St. Louis Cardinals set for their home opener against the Miami Marlins, it will be a bit of a homecoming for starting pitcher Lance Lynn, who originally began his big league career with the Redbirds.
Lynn returned to the team this offseason by signing a one-year contract with the club, after pitching last season for the Chicago White Sox. He’ll be making his first appearance as a Cardinal at Busch Stadium in seven years. Opposing him on the mound for Miami (0-7) will be lefthander Ryan Weathers.
Ahead of what will also be his first time being the Redbird’s opening day starter, the 36-year-old veteran explained why he chose to reunite with the team and the city.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons,” Lynn told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s The Best Podcast in Baseball this week. “One being in my mind both myself and this team underperformed last year. So what better place to go and reassert yourself as a quality big league starter in a place that it all started and take the team that you came up with back to the playoffs.”
“That was a big deciding factor… The time felt right for all of us to come back together.”
Being the Opening Day Starter Comes With Pressure
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol explained to Katie Woo of The Athletic that he had mapped out before the season that Lynn would be taking the ball on April 4. The skipper explained that he knows it’s a tough assignment.
“Opening Day at Busch, it’s not easy,” Marmol stated. “There is a lot going on, a lot of moving parts, and you have to be able to compartmentalize the celebration and all the things going on. He’s got a good personality for that.”
When Marmol approached Lynn to tell him he had been penciled in for the first home game, Lynn says his initial response was a bit comical.
“Terrible idea. The fans will hate it,” he joked.
With all kidding aside, Lynn then circled back and explained how much he appreciated being a Cardinal again, and how honored he is to make the start on Thursday.
“I had hope that I would never pitch on that mound, except in a Cardinals uniform.”
Lance Lynn Was a Top Selection by the Cardinals
St. Louis originally selected Lance Lynn with the 39th overall pick in the first round of the 2008 MLB draft. The 6’5″ righthander would spend the first six seasons of his career wearing the Birds on the Bat, compiling 977 2/3 innings of work during that span, to go along with a 3.38 ERA.
The Cardinals captured the 2011 World Series in his rookie year, with Lynn making 10 appearances during the postseason. He would then become an All-Star a year later, finishing 2012 with an 18–7 record, 180 strikeouts, and a 3.78 ERA in 176 innings.
After departing St. Louis, Lynn made stops with the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, and Chicago White Sox. From 2019-22, he pitched 571 innings with a 3.42 ERA becoming an All-Star once again in 2021.
Last season, Lynn posted a 13-11 with a hefty 5.73 ERA for the Pale Hose. He has a career mark of 136-95 over his 13 seasons in the big leagues.
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