Get Ready to Hit a Fun Homerun

It’s barely spring, but the boys of summer will round the corner of home plate soon. For Royals rooters, the team’s home opener can’t come soon enough. Committed Cards fans feel the same way. We thought we’d pitch in with some fun stats.

By Peg Cameron Gill The St. Louis Cardinals will host their 2023 home opener at Busch Stadium against Toronto on Thursday, March 30. That game will kick off a six-game homestand that will include three games against the Toronto Blue Jays and three against the Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile in KC, the Kansas City Royals will host their home opener against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium the same day. Both Missouri teams will step up to the plate at 3:10 pm. You may want to secure your tickets for some of these homestand games soon, if you haven’t already. Baseball’s new “balanced” schedule means that for the first time ever all 30 MLB clubs will square off against each other. The season will see the Cardinals play all 15 American League opponents for the first time. The team will play their four National League Central Division opponents 13 times each. During the season, the Cards will journey to London for a two-game series against the Cubs. This’ll be the team’s first-ever regular season “home” games outside of St. Louis. As for the Royals, after their home opener, they’ll face the Twins for two more home games, then square off against the Toronto Blue Jays for three home games.  Like the Cards, the Royals 2023 season will be a new balanced one and look like this: Kansas City will have 46 games in interleague play, and 52 games against American League Central opponents. In Bleacher Report’s pre-free agency power rankings, Joel Reuter wrote, “Many view 2023 as a year that will bridge the gap between a troubled 2022 team and a polished 2024 one in Kansas City, which is likely more realistic than being a true dark horse contender. As new manager Matt Quatraro takes over and a bevy of moves lie ahead for the Royals, these power rankings serve as a reminder that things may not be nearly as dire as they were this past season.” If you’re new to Missouri – or not a Royals fan or even a baseball fan – you may think the name “Royals” refers to royalty somehow. Well, that’d be a swing and a miss. The team was named after the American Royal livestock show held every year in Kansas City.  The team was founded as an expansion franchise in 1969, and has played in four World Series, winning in 1985 and 2015, and losing in 1980 and 2014.  The Cards, in contrast, have won an astounding 11 World Series titles: In 1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982, 2006, and 2011. Of course, they’ve been in business a lot longer. They were known as St. Louis Brown Stockings (1882), St. Louis Browns (1883 to 1898), and St. Louis Perfectos (1899). Batter up! For hundreds more events, visit Missouri Life’s Event Calendar.