{"id":2419986,"date":"2026-05-17T00:21:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2419986"},"modified":"2026-05-17T00:21:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:21:40","slug":"cardinals-series-win-over-royals-inspired-by-unlikely-group-of-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/cardinals-series-win-over-royals-inspired-by-unlikely-group-of-fans\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals\u2019 Series Win Over Royals Inspired by Unlikely Group of Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"has-video wp-caption \">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 780 \/ 439;\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>A club baseball team provided the energy the Cardinals needed for back-to-back wins over the Royals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/st-louis-cardinals\/\" title=\"St. Louis Cardinals\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264729\">St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> walked off the <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"Kansas City Royals\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/kansas-city-royals\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264727\">Kansas City Royals<\/a> in 11 innings at Busch Stadium. However, the story of that game wasn\u2019t only the win, but a dedicated set of Cardinals fans in the right field seats.<\/p>\n<p>Fans sitting in the upper level near the right field pole went shirtless, waving them like rally towels as the Cardinals rallied to win 5-4.\u00a0Those fans caught the attention of manager Oli Marmol, who spoke about it postgame.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhoever started that in right field, I\u2019ll do whatever I need to do to make sure they come to every game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- embed:start --><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed_container\" id=\"4d49cf72e853b4633f88b906bef575d2\">\n<div class=\"tweet-container\">\n<article class=\"tweet-container_article\">\n<div class=\"tweet-body\">Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said he would \u201cdo whatever I need to do\u201d to get the shirtless fans that cheered them to an 11th inning walk-off back to more games Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he\u2019s bought all the tickets for the \u201cTarps Off\u201d section for today\u2019s and tomorrow\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<p>(\ud83c\udfa5 via <a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KMOV\">@KMOV<\/a>) <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- embed:end --><\/p>\n<p>It turns out that it was <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/gnybarra\/status\/2055520399518023988\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">a club baseball team that started the trend<\/a>, per KMOV\u2019s Grace Ybarra. The Stephen F. Austin club baseball team came in Friday night and injected energy into the game. Eventually, St. Louis rallied to win on a walkoff single from backup catcher <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/yohel-pozo\/\" title=\"Yohel Pozo\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264733\">Yohel Pozo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Cardinals and their Fans Embrace \u2018Tarps Off\u2019 Celebration<\/h2>\n<p>The next day, Marmol put his money where his mouth was. The Cardinals manager bought out an entire section of tickets in right field. The team announced a flash sale of free tickets for their upcoming game.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/x.com\/OliMarmol\/status\/2055698008931442876<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, fans accepted the offer and showed up to the team\u2019s next game against the Royals. Among the fans to take advantage of the offer was the same club team, who were late arrivals to the game after <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SFAClubBsbl\/status\/2055718602758578323\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">celebrating their own walk-off win<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While the game was delayed due to weather, not even Mother Nature could stop the Cardinals and their shirtless fans from enjoying a 4-2 win over the Royals to take the series. Although it may have helped the club team to be able to enjoy the second half of the game after a trip across the Mississippi River from Alton, IL to St. Louis.<\/p>\n<p>The tarps off celebration not only left a strong impression on Marmol, but also on the Cardinals players. Designated hitter <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/ivan-herrera\/\" title=\"Ivan Herrera\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264730\">Ivan Herrera<\/a> was doing the celebration after a first inning double.<\/p>\n<p>After the game, the Stephen F. Austin club team celebrated in the Cardinals\u2019 clubhouse. The two teams did a handshake line, waved their shirts around, and posed for a photo. Unsurprisingly, the club baseball team chose to take their shirts off for it.<\/p>\n<p><!-- embed:start --><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed_container\" id=\"d99bb1026e718674a28b08b89f09d850\">\n<div class=\"tweet-container\">\n<article class=\"tweet-container_article\">\n<div class=\"tweet-body\">SFA club baseball + <a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/STLCards?src=hashtag_click\">#STLCards<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Masyn Winn told everyone to flex as hard as they can. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- embed:end --><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Cardinals Off to Best Start in Years<\/h2>\n<p>Coming into the 2026 season, the outlook on the club wasn\u2019t strong after trading much of their veteran talent away. Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/brendan-donovan\/\" title=\"Brendan Donovan\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264731\">Brendan Donovan<\/a> headlined the departures.<\/p>\n<p>However, these trades shouldn\u2019t be viewed as a fire sale, but rather freeing up opportunities for younger players to thrive. Providing one such example, the Donovan and Arenado trades opened the door for rookie <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/jj-wetherholt\/\" title=\"JJ Wetherholt\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264734\">JJ Wetherholt<\/a> to play.<\/p>\n<p>Entering the season as the No. 5 prospect in <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"MLB\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264728\">MLB<\/a>, Wetherholt has been as good as advertised. The rookie second baseman has put up a 122 wRC+ and 1.8 fWAR in his first 44 games. He is in a heated race for Rookie of the Year with <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"New York Mets\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-mets\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"264726\">New York Mets<\/a> ace Nolan McLean.<\/p>\n<p>Wetherholt and the new-look Cardinals have given their fans plenty to cheer for this season. St. Louis is off to a 27-18 start to the year, and they\u2019re in a great spot to contend for a postseason spot. As the club continues to stack wins, the atmosphere at Busch Stadium should return to its former glory in the 2010s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/michaelmcdermott8393\/\"><strong>Michael McDermott<\/strong><\/a> Michael McDermott is a writer at Heavy Sports covering the Arizona Diamondbacks and Major League Baseball. Michael has 10 years experience writing about the D-backs and their farm system for AZ Snake Pit, Burn City Sports, and Diamondbacks On SI. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/michaelmcdermott8393\/\">More about Michael McDermott<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\nif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\nn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\nwindow.addEventListener( 'load', function() {\nsetTimeout( function() {\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)\n}, 7000 );\n} );\n}(window, document,'script',\n'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '1420352291757138');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source heavy.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A club baseball team provided the energy the Cardinals needed for back-to-back wins over the Royals. The St. Louis Cardinals walked off the Kansas City Royals in 11 innings at Busch Stadium. However, the story of that game wasn\u2019t only the win, but a dedicated set of Cardinals fans in the right field seats. Fans [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2419987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2419986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Cardinals-Series-Win-Over-Royals-Inspired-by-Unlikely-Group-of.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2419986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2419986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2419986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2419988,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2419986\/revisions\/2419988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2419987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2419986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2419986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2419986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}