Cardinals vs. Pirates: The September 23 Game in Context

What is scheduled?

The St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates game is scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 6:40 p.m. EDT at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, according to MLB’s official Gameday preview. The same listing names Matthew Liberatore as St. Louis’s probable starter and leaves Pittsburgh’s starter as TBD. It lists SportsNet Pittsburgh and Cardinals.TV presented by bet365 as the broadcast options.

That unresolved pitching assignment is the most important pregame limitation. A comparison of the two starting pitchers cannot be complete until Pittsburgh’s starter is named, so predictions made before then would be missing a central piece of the matchup.

Is this a playoff-race game?

Not according to MLB’s official standings. The Pirates are listed at 79–77, with a .506 winning percentage and 19.0 games behind. The Cardinals are listed at 76–80, with a .487 winning percentage and 22.0 games behind. Both teams are marked eliminated from postseason contention on the standings page.

That changes how the matchup should be read. Pittsburgh is ahead of St. Louis in the division table, but this is not a game carrying a live postseason-berth consequence. The meaningful context is the distance between two National League Central teams late in the regular season—not a winner-take-all playoff checkpoint.

What should readers take away?

The cleanest summary is simple: this is a scheduled divisional game with a clear time and venue, a three-game record difference between the clubs, and one major pregame unknown in Pittsburgh’s starting pitcher. The official pages support that context; they do not justify turning the matchup into a larger playoff storyline.

For a useful preview, check whether MLB has filled in Pittsburgh’s starter before relying on any pitching comparison. Until then, the standings explain the stakes better than the trend label does.