The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off what was a truly dreadful three-game series against the San Francisco Giants, where they saw themselves get swept.
In the series finale on Wednesday, the last time St. Louis took the field, the team blew a 6-1 lead and lost the game 7-6.
Absent from the game outside of one pinch-hit appearance was Cardinals All-Star slugger Jordan Walker. However, he was involved in a notable lineup decision ahead of the team’s series opener against the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
Cardinals Announce Walker Decision
After pretty much two days off, Walker is back in the starting lineup on Friday night. He’ll return to his regular role of hitting third in the batting order and getting the nod in right field.
Here’s the full Cardinals lineup:
Via Underdog MLB: “Cardinals 9/11 J. Fermín 3B I. Herrera DH J. Walker RF A. Burleson 1B J. Báez LF L. Bernal C T. Saggese 2B M. Winn SS N. Church CF M. Liberatore SP.”
Cardinals 9/11
J. Fermín 3B
I. Herrera DH
J. Walker RF
A. Burleson 1B
J. Báez LF
L. Bernal C
T. Saggese 2B
M. Winn SS
N. Church CFM. Liberatore SP
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) September 11, 2026
Walker’s 2026 Season
While Walker has cooled off a bit following the All-Star break, where he won the Home Run Derby, he’s still put together an exceptional season and his best one yet by far since making his MLB debut with St. Louis back in 2023.
He’ll enter Friday night batting .281 across 143 games and has recorded 90 runs, 157 hits, 28 home runs, and 100 RBIs, while slugging .489 with a .826 OPS.
Cardinals Right Now
St. Louis has slowly but surely played itself out of the race in the NL Wild Card.
While they’re still not mathematically out of it, they sit at 72-75 overall, have dropped all the way to fourth in the NL Central, and are 6.5 games back of a Wild Card spot with 15 regular-season games remaining.
St. Louis Cardinals Announce Jordan Walker Decision Before White Sox Series