At least the first time through the rotation, the St. Louis Cardinals stuck to the plan of giving their pitchers extra rest.
Adam Wainwright starts Monday's home opener against the Milwaukee Brewers with seven days' rest since pitching six scoreless innings in an opening-night win at the Chicago Cubs.
The 33-year-old right-hander pitched 243 innings last year, including the postseason, after throwing 276 2/3 in 2013, then St. Louis lost to Boston in the World Series.
Wainwright had minor elbow surgery after the season. He' is 12-7 with a 2.31 career ERA against Milwaukee, and was 3-1 last season.
Since they opened on the road, the Cardinals (3-2) will be taking the field at Busch Stadium for the first time since the NL Championship Series.
"I can't speak for everyone but I'm anxious to go home," manager Mike Matheny said. "We started off in two cities (Chicago and Cincinnati) that don't like us, and now we go home to a city that loves us. I can't wait."
Matheny is having players come in earlier than usual for the 3 p.m. CDT start so veterans can discuss expectations for the day with younger players.
"Opening day in St. Louis is like a holiday," Matheny said.
The team's Hall of Famers and the current roster will arrive on a motorcade around the warning track, and the Budweiser Clydesdales also will also make an appearance. Stars of the Whiteyball era will be on opposite ends of the first pitch, with Willie McGee throwing to Ozzie Smith.
There will also be a memorial tribute to Oscar Taveras, the promising rookie who died along with his girlfriend in a car accident during the offseason.
Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said the pomp and circumstance won't change the pre-game routine. There will be plenty of time for meetings, video room work and scouting reports.
"The biggest thing is just keeping it simple," Lucroy said. "You want the pitcher to basically use your strengths as much as you can."
Lucroy is one of several Brewers off to a slow start.
He is 1 for 20, while Ryan Braun is 3 for 14 and Aramis Ramirez is 4 for 23 without an RBI.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke continued to be frustrated with the team's overall play as it dropped to 1-5 with Sunday's 10-2 loss. They've been outscored 36-16.
"We have got to pitch a lot better, no question," he said. "And we need to swing the bat better."
Lucroy's batterymate Matt Garza (0-1, 7.20 ERA) gave up four runs and eight hits -- including four doubles -- over five innings in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to Colorado.
The righty had an 8.10 ERA in losing a pair of April starts to the Cardinals last season. In his only other outing against the Cardinals in 2014, he threw six scoreless innings in St. Louis on Aug. 3 after recording a 9.56 ERA in his first four career starts there.
The Cardinals are coming off Sunday's 7-5, 11-inning win over Cincinnati. Jhonny Peralta tied the game with a two-run homer in the eighth and Matt Carpenter put St. Louis ahead with a two-run shot three innings later.
Peralta is 5 for 12 with four RBIs in the last four games and is batting .406 in his career against Garza.
The Brewers are starting a 22-game stretch against division rivals. Roenicke said it shouldn't change the approach.
"We want to win, we don't care who it's against," he said. "It's more about just getting going the right way and we need to do a better job of that."
