Opening Day of the 2024 Major League Baseball season is upon us, and one of the Thursday contests features two flagship National League franchises going at it -- the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Cardinals are coming off a deeply disappointing 71-91 season in 2023, which gave them their first losing season since 2007 and first 90-loss campaign since 1990. As for the Dodgers, they once again won 100 games last year and in the process notched their 11th straight trip to the postseason. As well, the Dodgers this past offseason committed more than $1 billion to free agents, most notably Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Below, CBS Sports has given you the rundown on how to watch the Cardinals-Dodgers game, as well as some storylines to be aware of on both sides of the field.
Cardinals vs. Dodgers
Date: Thursday, March 28 | Time: 4:10 p.m. ET
Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
Live stream: Fubo (try for free), MLB.TV | TV: SportsNet LA, Bally Sports Midwest
Probable pitchers: RHP Miles Mikolas (STL) vs. RHP Tyler Glasnow (LAD)
Odds: STL +192; LAD -234; over/under: 8.5
Storylines
Cardinals: The plan was for veteran right-hander and marquee offseason addition Sonny Gray to take the ball for the Cards on Opening Day, but a hamstring strained suffered during spring training landed him on the IL to start the season. As such, the honor falls to Mikolas, who's coming off a subpar 2023 season. The drop-off from Gray to Mikolas lays bare the somewhat uninspiring nature of the Cardinals rebuilt rotation, at least once you get past Gray. They also added Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn to the fold this offseason. Age and effectiveness are real worries outside of Gray.
Dodgers: The Dodgers have already opened their 2024 regular season, as they split a two-game set with the Padres in the Korea Series. This game occasions the home debut of Ohtani, who inked a heavily backloaded $700 million pact with L.A. this winter. The unfortunate backdrop, of course, is the still unfolding gambling scandal that has ensnared Ohtani at the outset of his Dodgers career.
