Game Preview: 4/19/25 Cardinals Vs Mets

Cardinals look to salvage at least a split with New York

The 9-11 St. Louis Cardinals are set to take on the 13-7 1st place New York Mets at Citi Field. Last night Francisco Lindor crushed Cardinals fans heart by smoking a walk off home run off of Ryan Fernandez. The Cardinals have dropped the first two games of the series but still have a chance to split the last two of the four game set. The team will send Matthew Liberatore to the mound to oppose Kodai Senga.

This season Matthew Liberatore is 1-1 with a 3.93 ERA and sports a cool 1.94 FIP which would rank 7th in MLB behind Chris Bassitt (TOR), Paul Skenes (PIT), Drew Rasmussen (TBR), Logan Webb (SFG), Hunter Greene (CIN), and Cole Ragans (KCR). Liberatore has gone at least 6+ innings in each of his first 3 starts and has been a quiet revelation for the starting rotation so far this season as the team is in the midst of its “transition” season.

Opposing the Cardinals will be Mets Ace Kodai Senga. In 2025, so far, Senga is 2-1 with a 1.06 ERA. Senga’s FIP is 2.80 which lends to Senga benefiting from some strong defense behind him. So far in 2025 Senga’s signature “Ghost Fork” Forkball has been doing its thing generating 48.5 Whiff% which has propped up his 24.5 K%.

Game info: first pitch 4:05 PM

Where to watch: FOX

Where to listen: 1120 KMOX/104.1 FM

Starters:

STL: Matthew Liberatore (1-1 3.93 ERA)

vs

NYM: Kodai Senga (2-1 1.06 ERA)

Player to watch:

STL: Brendan Donovan: Donnie has been on FIRE! In his last 15 games Brendan Donovan is 25-59 (.424/.452/.627) that’s a 1.079 OPS. He also has a 14-game hitting streak which is the highest current streak in MLB.

NYM: Pete Alonso: In his last 15 games the “big strong guy” is 21-52 (.404/.508/.827) good for a 1.335 OPS. Through the first 2 games of the series Alonso is just 1-6 with 2 BB’s. Look for him to hunt pitches on the inside half against Liberatore.