ST. LOUIS – While the baseball world is already abuzz with the start of the 2026 MLB season upon us, Opening Day in St. Louis is greeted with the distinct feel of a joyous holiday.

New Year’s Day has nothing on Opening Day in baseball-obsessed St. Louis. 

At Busch Stadium, the world-famous Clydesdales pose for pictures out on the streets outside and then they majestically circle the warning track to the cheers of thousands. Red-jacketed Hall of Famers are all over the place – signing autographs for fans over here and laughing it up with current players over there – to give the pregame ceremony a distinct feel of royalty. 

Every MLB Opening Day is special and there’s always a feel of newness in the air. But in St. Louis, Opening Day has a holiday feel as the return of the sport is celebrated more than just simply cheered. Take it from former MLB pitcher Lance Lynn, who played for six different MLB franchises (Cardinals (twice), Twins, Yankees, Rangers, White Sox and Dodgers) and firmly believes Opening Day in St. Louis is simply different.

“Back in the day, I’d see (Hall of Fame manager) Whitey (Herzog) and (Hall of Famer) Stan (Musial) and it would hit me, ‘Man, this really cool and it doesn’t happen like this everywhere,’” said Lynn, who pitched for the Cardinals from 2011-17 and returned for a home-opener starting assignment in 2024. “Opening Day is a cool day for the fans, but it’s also cool for the players to meet the ones who came before them. A lot of teams bring back former players, but this organization really embraces bringing back it’s legendary players.”

Plans are already in place for the elaborate Opening Day ceremonies at Busch Stadium on Thursday when the Cardinals host the Tampa Bay Rays at 3:15 PM CT.

Some 45 minutes before Matthew Liberatore’s first pitch of the 2026 season for the rebuilding Cards, those aforementioned Clydesdale horses will gracefully thunder around the warning track. They will be followed by Cardinals players and coaches, who will ride in the backs of pick-up trucks and waive to adoring fans like prom queens.

Waiting for the players at home plate will be some of the greatest players in MLB history who will be, fittingly enough for the day, decked out in bright red jackets. Confirmed to be on hand Thursday: National Baseball Hall of Famers Tony La Russa, Scott Rolen, Ted Simmons and Ozzie Smith. Cardinals Hall of Famers Vince Coleman, Al Hrbosky, Jason Isringhausen, Ray Lankford, Willie McGee, Mark McGwire, Edgar Renteria and John Tudor.

Top organizational prospect JJ Wetherholt, who will be making his much-anticipated debut MLB debut, will get to mingle with Ozzie -- first name only in St. Louis --before fielding his first grounder. Victor Scott II can talk base stealing with Coleman and playing center field with McGee. And manager Oliver Marmol would be wise to take a few pointers from La Russa, long a mentor of his.

That just doesn't happen in every MLB Opening Day. 

In coming years, that National and Cardinals Hall of Fame group will almost certainly be joined by legends Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, players who retired in 2022 and ’23 and have likely already been sized for their jackets to wear in future Opening Day ceremonies.     

In another nod to their tradition-rich history, the Cardinals will have 2006 World Series MVP David Eckstein will throw out a first pitch to catcher and fellow '06 champion Gary Bennett. Also, Brian Jordan and Tom Pagnozzi, members of the Cardinals' 1996 National League Central Division championship team, will also throw out first pitches.

None of than 23-year-old right fielder Jordan Walker summed it up best when he described what it’s like to be a part of the Opening Day festivities in St. Louis, where players are surrounded by legendary figures in the history of the game. History is everywhere at the ballpark in St. Louis, where dozens of statues of baseball greats line the sidewalks and the franchise’s 11 World Series banners fly forever above the stadium. Also, murals of Musial, Brock, Gibson, Slaughter, Medwick, Herzog, Sutter and La Russa dot the walls and greet players walking into clubhouses. 

“In St. Louis, the past is still very much present,” said Walker, who got to chat up Ozzie Smith and pet a Clydesdale before his first Opening Day in St. Louis in 2023.

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