The St. Louis Cardinals are hands down the best story in MLB right now. They have just defeated Milwaukee Brewers 6-2 to not only win their 17th game in a row but in so doing clinched a NL Wild Card berth. It is the Cardinals' third consecutive post-season appearance under manager Mike Shildt who succeeded Mike Matheny during the 2018 season.
On September 7th, exactly three weeks ago today, the Cardinals had lost four straight games and were four games back of the San Diego Padres for the second NL Wild Card sport tied with the fading New York Mets. Since then the Cardinals have won 19 of their last 20 games and a franchise record 17 consecutive games.
After a decent April, the Cardinals spent most of May atop the NL Central. But between June 2nd and 13th, the Cardinals would lose 9 of 10 games and fall under .500 into fourth place six games back of the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.
By the All-Star Break, the Cardinals still had a losing record but would manage to get back to .500 by the end of July. Redbirds fans were puzzled as to why team traded for veteran southpaws Jon Lester and JA Happ from the Washington Nationals and Minnesota Twins, respectively. The tandem are a combined 8-3 in 21 starts and have complimented 40-year old Adam Wainwright who tonight won his 17th game of the season. If this doesn't earn Wainwright a NL Cy Young Award then nothing will. Wainwright has finished runner up for the NL Cy Young twice - in 2010 and 2013 and third back in 2014. Who would have been imagined Wainwright in this kind of form in 2021?
The Cardinals' pitching is backed up by their sterling defense which leads all of MLB in runs saved per game. They also have plenty of power with three players with more than 30 HRs (Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Tyler O'Neill who is having a breakout season in 2021). And how can not like a team who has a player named Lars Nootbaar?
For most of the season, it appeared the San Diego Padres had a lock on the second NL Wild Card berth. On July 23rd, the Padres had a 7 game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and a 8.5 game lead over both the Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies. On that day, the Cardinals were a .500 club. Today, the Padres are .500 club having gone 19-36 since that period. For a time it appeared, the Reds would enjoy post-season glory but the it was the Reds against whom the Cardinals began this 17-game winning streak.
The Cardinals will most likely face the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Wild Card game. With the Dodgers entering tonight with 100 wins, they would be the prohibitive favorite but with the way the Cardinals have played over the past three weeks the Dodgers might not have much of an advantage even if the game is played in Chavez Ravine.
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