Cards to face Royals in exhibition July 22

ST. LOUIS -- In an Opening Day “dress rehearsal,” the Cardinals will host an exhibition game against the Royals on July 22 at Busch Stadium, the team announced Monday.

First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. CT, and the game will air on Fox Sports Midwest and KMOX 1120 AM. This will be the first Major League exhibition game the Cardinals have hosted in St. Louis since playing a pair against the Mariners on April 24-25, 1995, at Busch Stadium II. It will also be former Cards manager Mike Matheny’s first return to Busch Stadium. Matheny was hired to replace Ned Yost as the Royals' manager this past offseason.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt hinted the team was working on scheduling a game with the Royals over the weekend.

“From our perspective, probably the biggest benefit, outside of playing other competition, it’ll allow us a little bit of a dress rehearsal,” Shildt said Sunday. “Just how everything flows on a game day right before we open up officially on the 24th.”

Opening Day is scheduled for July 24 against the Pirates in St. Louis, kicking off a three-game series against Pittsburgh that weekend.

During the 60-game regular season, the Cardinals will play 40 games against National League Central teams and 20 against American League Central teams, a rework in the schedule for teams to minimize travel this year. St. Louis will host the Royals for a three-game series on Aug. 24-26 and visit Kansas City for three games on Aug. 21-23.

After Monday’s off-day from workouts, the Cardinals have around five more intrasquad games before the regular season, and most of them will be streamed on cardinals.com.