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For the past several months, manager Oliver Marmol has been slinging similar words around the horn to see which ones catch on to describe the style of play the Cardinals will have this season, and then early in one recent spring training game, he had his examples.

Masyn Winn dashed out of the box and rounded first as if to take an extra base if offered. Brendan Donovan flipped the scouting report and pounced on a 3-0 pitch to drive home a run. Lars Nootbaar lashed a base hit — to the opposite field. Aggressive baserunning and defense followed. The Cardinals offense started fast and ignited a rowdy dugout, and the vibrancy of the play spread from there.

Cue the adjectives.

“Youthful, energetic, electric style,� Marmol said. “I want our guys to play with an edge. You can’t mistake it — this type of edge. You can’t help but see it. ... There’s an energy to it. There’s an energy to setting the tone early and then keeping your foot on the gas.�

He was talking about an inning, even a game.

The same goes for a season.

The Cardinals begin their 134th season in the National League and their 20th year at Busch Stadium III on Thursday afternoon when Sonny Gray delivers a pitch against the visiting Minnesota Twins. They’ve never had a chance this soon to introduce themselves to the faithful, with a March 27th opener being the earliest regular season game in club history, and they openly admit they’ve never advertised a “transition� season like this one at this ballpark.

They also have never had an opening month that could be this defining for a season.

April will be a barometer for the five months and warm reception or stormy changes that follow. The roster is laced with players such as Nolan Arenado and Erick Fedde who could be traded — and a good start by them coupled with a poor start from the team would hasten the dismantling. A good start by the team would send a different message, which would have both financial and competitive payoffs.

The Cardinals believe internally that a significant spur for ticket sales throughout the season is the team’s performance in April and how much it can capture interest as fans set their summer plans. Already braced for reduced revenue from ticket sales this season, a strong start can sell the Cardinals better than an alternate pitch: “Hey crowds, come grow with us.�

Look to recent springs for examples as how the Cardinals didn’t shake the winter chills. From 2000-22 — excluding 2020, which had no April games — the Cardinals had winning records on May 1 in every year but 2007. That was the one losing season in that span. The past two seasons, the Cardinals have had losing opening months, going a combined 24-36 (.400), or a 64-win pace. They haven’t had three consecutive losing Aprils since 1984-86.

In 2023, it lingered into a losing season.

In 2024, it revealed an offense that never thawed.

“It was a bear market last year,� pitcher Miles Mikolas said. “More bear than you’d like.�

When he said that, Mikolas stood at his spring training locker, which is located in the corner that has, over time, come to house the seasoned starters. In a locker once leased by Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, Mikolas then worked his way around the room to list the teammates who were unhappy with their 2023 seasons, some more grizzly than others.

“If I pitch better, we’re a better team, and if you go to Sonny and say, ‘Hey, are you that guy or are you better?’ He’s better,� Mikolas said. “Maybe the chip on the shoulder is a different color. In the past years, it’s been, OK, people think we’re falling off and we’re still on top. This year, it’s we’re under the gun from last year and people expect us now to slide even further. It’s a different chip on our shoulder. Maybe an extra chip. You’ve got guys on this roster who are here to prove something. Whether it’s prove they’re not a one-and-done kind of guy or guys like me proving we’re not done yet. Sonny and Nado are saying, ‘We’re All-Star-caliber players.’ So everybody has their own chip. Put it all together and we’ve got a bag of chips.

“We don’t need new or different players. We need everybody, myself included, to play better.�

By taking stock, Mikolas captured the duality of the team.

While ownership sought a youth movement, the front office described a “reset,â€� and management has talked all spring about balancing a long-term view with the lineup vs. short-term urgency, the 2025 ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinals are all of that and none of that and most of all ... static.

Youth movement? For the first time since 2007, the Cardinals open the year without a single player on the active roster who is eligible for the NL Rookie of the Year.

Reset? Reliever Phil Maton is the only newcomer on the roster, and for the first time in at least three decades, the Cardinals have 24 or more players returning from the previous year.

But therein lies the identity that Marmol has been describing.

Familiar players but not a familiar game.

That’s a stone sharpening the edge.

“You look at our group, and it’s a bunch of hungry, young dudes with some guys who have been in the league for awhile with no ceiling,� Marmol said. “That’s what the season is for — to show what they’re capable of doing.�

Marmol was asked how that edge might reveal itself in strategy. He’s stacked some speed win Masyn Winn and Victor Scott II at the bottom of the lineup, and the Cardinals want some restrictor-plate racing on the bases. But Marmol veered instead to describe a choice made for the clubhouse. Starting during the winter, the manager and coaches urged individuality to come out from players, however they wish. That led to some games around workouts and some epic bat flips from Willson Contreras to the delight of his teammates — even on a walk.

Want to know the team’s style of play? Marmol pointed to moments like that.

Perhaps the best description of the identity of the team came when the Post-Dispatch asked Marmol how he wanted this season to play out, how will it be the year of growth for the organization and its young players.

“I want the guys to be mentally and physically exhausted when the season is over from dialing it in every pitch in a way they’ve never done it before,� Marmol said. “I want them to be spent. I want them spent ... from locking in on every pitch in a way they’ve never pushed themselves to be locked in. I want an aggressive, relentless attitude toward every pitch. That is where you can find an edge.�

That begins defensively Thursday at Busch with Gray delivering the first pitch. The first Cardinals starter in club history with a strikeout rate greater than 30%, Gray had a spring to forget but feels better after a bout with a flu-like illness in the past week. That begins offensively Thursday with Nootbaar leading off — healthy and eager to show his elite advanced metrics can become production.

They’ll face a Twins team that finished April blazing toward a 12-game winning streak that ultimately led to an 82-80 season, one win behind the Cardinals (83-79).

“It doesn’t mean everything. It means something,� Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Is it important? Of course, it’s important. Everybody wants to start out good and have a great energy and vibe. If I can choose a hot start or not, I’m going to take the hot one.�

“What’s the saying?� Cardinals starter Gray said. “I guess (it’s), ‘You can’t make the playoffs in the first month or whatever, but you can lose it.’ I think it’s just a fresh start for everyone. New season. Spring is here. Baseball season’s here. Summer is on the way. Baseball season and opening day — it means the good weather is coming, the warm weather is coming. It’s a good part of the year.�

And it doesn’t just forecast the weather ahead.