The St. Louis Cardinals have been a pleasant surprise to start the MLB season, and their secret weapon appears to be a shirtless club baseball team.
The Cardinals had a surprisingly raucous atmosphere at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Mo. for Friday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. The catalysts appeared to be the Stephen F. Austin club baseball team, who are taking part in the Club Baseball Division II World Series in nearby Alton, Ill. The Cardinals offered them free tickets for Friday’s game, and a large group accepted, showed up, and promptly removed their shirts and started twirling them over their heads.
Their energy quickly spread throughout the crowd, and by the time the Cardinals walked it off in the 11th, everyone had taken notice of them.
Shirts off for the walk-off 🤣 https://t.co/Bv5hWVg1PF pic.twitter.com/Y8NV35Rgr9
— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2026
After the game, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol praised the group and said he would do whatever it took to bring them back for the rest of the weekend.
“Whoever started that in right field, I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure they come every game, because that was awesome,” Marmol told reporters. “Not only them, but everybody that showed up today. That was a fun environment.”
Marmol made good on his word. The Cardinals manager bought up the entire section’s worth of tickets. On Saturday, Stephen F. Austin won their baseball game and then arrived in the fourth inning to do it again.
The Tarps Off crowd (@SFAClubBsbl) is here after a walk-off win in the NBCA Division II World Series in Alton, and yep, they propelled the #STLCards to another lead.@RegionalTVCat @STLSprtsCntrl pic.twitter.com/pveU9HQ09F
— Luke Slabaugh (@LukeSlabaugh) May 16, 2026
The Cardinals beat the Royals again on Saturday, and the enthusiastic team was rewarded by being brought into the clubhouse afterward.
It’s “Tarps Off” in the #STLCards clubhouse with Cards players and players from the Stephen F. Austin club team who cheered throughout the 4-2 win while waiving their shirts. pic.twitter.com/4etU8bFTox
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) May 16, 2026
The Cardinals now sit at 27-18 in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for them. Instead, they are looking like a contender, and Marmol probably wishes he could keep these guys in St. Louis for the entire season.
