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When the Cardinals gathered Wednesday for a clubhouse meeting on their first day together at Busch Stadium as the 2025 club, they discussed the kind of team they wanted to be, the facets they had to keep sharp for the kind of team they needed to be for success this season.

They described reliable defense, aggressive baserunning, and relentless — the word the manager likes to use a lot — relentless at-bats. All traits they mentioned through spring. If they’re going to take this group of personalities and keep it together with performance, they need an identity. Within nine innings of a 5-3 victory on opening day at Busch Stadium they had their proof of concept.

They spoke about how it could win one day.

They did it to win the first day.

“We talked about our vision and what we expected, and that’s our brand of baseball right there,� infielder Brendan Donovan said. “Taking care of the ball. You’ve got speed, contact, guys who can punch the ball out. It really is a unique bunch. That’s the brand of baseball that we need to show up and try to play on a daily basis.�

Echoed third baseman Nolan Arenado: “We’re excited to come to the field and that is something that we’re trying to set the tone with. It starts today.�

The Cardinals turned sparks from new leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar into an early lead and got home runs from him and Arenado to increase their advantage.

In between Sonny Gray’s six-pitch first inning and Ryan Helsley’s four-batter ninth were all the ingredients the Cardinals must sprinkle onto the box score all summer to outplay the outside expectations. Nootbaar singled, got rewarded with a balk for trying to steal second, and scored the first run by racing home from second on Donovan’s single. Donovan smothered a grounder to rescue Gray with a double play, and Victor Scott II dashed deep into the right-center gap to rob extra bases and keep Minnesota from a pivotal run.

Setup right-hander Ryan Fernandez was unavailable because of hip tightness, so Chris Roycroft and newcomer Phil Maton tagged in to pitch scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth with a one-run lead.

Opportunistic offense. Flashes of power. Grand-theft defense. Reliable relief.

That’s the recipe for a roster to win, even one geared toward the future.

“It’s going to take all 26 of us to win games here,â€� Gray said. “If you look at what are the Cardinals and who are the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinals, I think that game can embody who we are, and who we want to be.â€�

But before it could start, there was a misstep.

While lining up for the traditional lap around the field for player introductions, Nootbaar, the leadoff hitter, was ushered onto a truck ahead of relievers Fernandez and Maton. In order of introductions, Nootbaar was supposed to be behind the bullpen, behind the relievers — the first of the starters to be introduced. He recognized something was off but couldn’t correct the order before the vehicle began its journey to home plate and the red-jacket legends beside the World Series trophies. The game hadn’t even started and Nootbaar was going to the plate out of order.

“You see something, say something, and I didn’t say something,� Nootbaar said. “I couldn’t even enjoy riding around, thinking the entire time how am I going to get myself out of this mess?�

Within an hour he was creating another one.

Promoted to leadoff late in spring training, Nootbaar joked that wherever he hits he’s internalized a leadoff approach. He is willing to take pitches, eager to set a tone, and has one of the keener eyes in the majors. He took two pitches from Twins starter Pablo Lopez to get the count 1-1 and then fouled off consecutive pitches to stay at the plate with a 1-2 count. Nootbaar would ignore a changeup out of the zone before drilling a 95.5-mph fastball for a leadoff single.

He got a bit too aggressive attempting a steal but was fortunate when Lopez balked and gave Nootbaar the base. That put him in scoring position for Donovan’s one-out single.

Nootbaar got on the wrong truck, but had the Cardinals start on the right foot.

“I think that tone was set months ago, and we’re now going to be able to put it into action,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “You can talk about all of these different words of being electric and bringing energy and relentless and then actually doing it? And they did exactly that. Running all over the field. Making plays. Stealing bases. Our at-bats like that is what a relentless at-bat looks like, one through nine.

“When you have that mentality, one through nine, that’s putting the words into action,� the manager continued. “I felt like our at-bats and our style of play was exactly that.�

Nootbaar followed his first-inning run with a second-inning two-run homer, but a similar series of events preceded it. Jordan Walker drilled a single down the third-base line. Like Nootbaar, he took an aggressive lead off first base and appeared stuck until Lopez misfired for an error. Walker took third on a groundout and walked home from there on Nootbaar’s homer.

By the end of the third inning, the Cardinals held a 4-0 lead on the Twins and Lopez. It got there with help from the defense in the second inning. Minnesota singled twice and walked to load the bases. Gray regained a hold on the inning with a strikeout for the second out. Willson Contreras, new to first base, then ranged into foul territory and deep toward right field to catch a popup that ended the inning — and left the bases loaded.

Contreras tossed his cap away like a catcher before making the snag.

The catch that saved the game came in the sixth with two runners on and reliever Kyle Leahy clinging to a two-run lead. Ty France drilled a pitch toward the wall in right-center. Scott put his head down and sprinted to the spot where he jumped, reached, and snagged the liner before landing on the warning track. The catch prevented a run, and in an inning in which the Cardinals gave up a run it meant the Twins did not tie the game 4-4.

Scott said the team “gelled� in spring.

“And that’s the product you’re seeing out there,� he said. “We know we’ve got to be efficient. We know we have to play to the details and make sure we’re doing everything right on that end. And the end of the day it’s clean, clean baseball we’re trying to play.�

Without Scott’s catch there isn’t a lead for Roycroft and Maton to shepherd to Helsley for the first save of the season. Without Arenado’s homer in the eighth off Griffin Jax’s 98-mph fastball, the tying run is at second base against Helsley and not in the batter’s box for the final out. Without trying to steal second base in the first inning, Nootbaar doesn’t benefit from a balk and isn’t in scoring position for the early lead. Without a win, the truck mishap isn’t as humorous. Without this small detail, the Cardinals would not have gotten that big return.

But with all those things came something tangible for the Cardinals. That “vision� of what they needed to do to win resulted in just that — a win.

It won’t be there every day, but they don’t have to wonder if it will be there at all.

“You have to realize it is one game,� Gray said. “(But) we can sustain something like that. It’s nice to come out and say, hey, we do have a brand of baseball that can win. And it’s nice to show it early.�