Getty
Entering the 2023 campaign, the St. Louis Cardinals are looking to build off their first-place NL Central finish last year and hopefully go deeper into the postseason.
Note: Heavy may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up via a link on this page
Most Cardinals games this season will be locally televised on Bally Sports Midwest, while others may be nationally televised on MLB Network (those ones will also be on Bally Sports Midwest), ESPN, ESPN2, Fox or FS1. A couple may be untelevised and stream on YouTube, Apple TV+, Peacock TV or ESPN+.
If you don’t have cable and you live in the Cardinals market, you can watch a live stream of every televised Cardinals game on FuboTV or DirecTV Stream, which both include Bally Sports Midwest and come with a free trial.
Here’s a full rundown of those options, as well as some ways for out-of-market viewers to watch Cardinals games live online without cable in 2023:
If You’re in the Cardinals Market
FuboTV
You can watch a live stream of Bally Sports Midwest, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1, MLB Network and 100-plus other live TV channels on FuboTV. You’ll need to include the “Sports Plus” add-on for MLB Network, but you can include any add-ons you want with your free seven-day trial:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch Cardinals games live on the FuboTV app or FuboTV website.
Compatible devices for the FuboTV app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
DirecTV Stream
DirecTV Stream has four different channel packages: “Entertainment,” “Choice,” “Ultimate” and “Premier.” ESPN, ESPN2, Fox and FS1 are included in every one, while Bally Sports Midwest and MLB Network are in “Choice” and up, but you can pick any package and any add-ons you want with your free five-day trial:
Once signed up for DirecTV Stream, you can watch Cardinals games live on the DirecTV Stream app or DirecTV Stream website.
Compatible devices for the DirecTV Stream app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
If You’re Out of the Cardinals Market
Amazon Prime’s MLB.TV Channel
Amazon Prime subscribers (Prime comes with a 30-day free trial) can watch every out-of-market, non-nationally televised MLB game via Prime Channels.
The MLB.TV channel costs either $24.99 per month to watch every out-of-market game (“All Team Pass”) or $129.99 for the year to just watch out-of-market Cardinals games (“Single Team Pass”), but either option comes with a free seven-day trial:
MLB.TV Amazon Prime Free Trial
Once you’re signed up for the Prime MLB.TV Channel, out-of-market viewers can watch Cardinals games live on the Prime Video app or Amazon website.
Compatible devices for the Prime Video app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Xbox One or Series X/S, PlayStation 4 or 5, various smart TV’s, Xiaomi, Echo Show or Echo Spot, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
MLB.TV
This is ultimately the same as the Amazon Prime option above, only you’ll watch games on MLB’s digital platforms instead of Amazon’s.
You can watch all out-of-market, non-nationally televised MLB games via MLB.TV. It costs $24.99 per month or $149.99 for the year to watch every out-of-market game, or $129.99 for the year to just watch out-of-market Cardinals games. The monthly and yearly all-team options include a free seven-day trial (the single-team option does not):
Once signed up for MLB.TV, out-of-market viewers can watch Cardinals games live on the MLB TV app or MLB.TV website.
Compatible devices for the MLB TV app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, various Smart TV’s, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
ESPN+
This isn’t going to be an option to watch a lot of Cardinals games, but if you’re looking for a cheap way to watch a random MLB game daily, ESPN+ includes at least one out-of-market game every day during the regular season:
In addition to one live MLB game every day, ESPN+ also has dozens of other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary and additional original content (both video and written) for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year (or $13.99 per month for a bundle of all three of ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu).
Once signed up for ESPN+, out-of-market viewers can watch a daily MLB game live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com.
Compatible devices for the ESPN app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
Cardinals Season Preview 2023
After winning the NL Central with a 93-69 record, the St. Louis Cardinals were bounced in the postseason by the Philadelphia Phillies in two games. It was not only quite a letdown for fans, but it was the final game for all-star catcher Yadier Molina and prodigal son player Albert Pujols, who had a remarkable resurgence with the Cardinals in his final season as he chased the 700 home run mark — incidentally, he crossed the mark on September 23 in a two home run game, becoming just the fourth player in major league history (along with Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth) to have over 700 homers. He ended his career with 703 home runs, 3384 hits, 2218 RBIs, a batting average of .296, two gold gloves, six silver sluggers, a batting champion title, 11 all-star appearances, three MVP awards, and two World Series rings.
With Pujols and Molina gone, the Cardinals are looking ahead to the future. They acquired catcher Willson Contreras from the Chicago Cubs and also signed left-handed pitcher Anthony Misiewicz. In 2023, they’ll be looking to once again win their division, but perhaps make a better run at the World Series.
In an interview at spring training, manager Oliver Marmol told KSDK that they were disappointed in the way last season ended and they’re hungry to do better.
“It’s something that obviously you don’t love the way it ends and you’re hungry to get another crack at it, obviously,” said Marmol. “The guys are hungry for it, they’ve prepared all offseason and they’re looking forward to showing up here and taking care of business.”
When asked what he learned from working with Albert Pujols during Pujols’ final season, Marmol said he brought so many things to the team beyond his performance on the field.
“Gosh, there’s so much that he did and ways he impacted the game outside of just his performance,” said Marmol. “His view on when things aren’t going well was always to not panic and just figure out what’s not working, what is working. Conversations that he’d have with players in the clubhouse underneath the tunnel, in the clubhouse, during the game, was this constant not figuring out what was wrong but pushing towards what it is that we’re trying to do together. He did a really nice job of including the younger guys as well so that they felt comfortable, which was a big part of them playing well. Overall, there’s a lot of things to take from the way those guys led, especially him.”
As for Contreras, he has big shoes to fill behind the plate with the retirement of Molina, but Marmol said that Contreras is going to work extremely hard to do that.
“He’s a competitor. At the end of the day, it wasn’t a matter of finding the best bat or the best guy behind the plate as much as a guy that was going to compete at an extremely high level and fit into the overall mindset of what we’re doing here. He verbalized it extremely well during his interview. He envisioned himself in this uniform and he wanted to compete for this organization and we’re really looking forward to it,” said Marmol.
He continued, “This is a guy that works hard at it and I think we do a good job from offseason to spring training to throughout the year, developing the nuances of catching. It’s something that I think he’s going to learn quite a bit from being with the organization. But this is a guy that works extremely hard at it and is hungry for what’s next in his career and I think this will be a part of it.”