I know
that the Jeff Fisher Rams are an exciting and new phenomenon or so we hope here
in the coming months, but let’s be honest, there is no sports team in St. Louis
that will ever touch the Cardinals during a pennant race. After defeating the Cincinnati Reds on Friday
night, the Cardinals have allowed themselves to actually enter the talk about a
pennant race, but it will be the next 9 games that really show us all how
serious this team is about contending.
These games will combine a long road trip without days off with three
teams in which the Reds and the Nationals are the best two teams in the
National League according to record, and the Pirates are the team that they
will have to beat if they want to become a wild card winner.
The
Cardinals, after an extremely disappointing extra inning loss against the
Pirates, the Cardinals have come back admirably to take a lead in the National
League’s second Wild Card spot, but anything that we need to learn, we will
learn over this next week of games. We
will see if this Cardinal offense can hit with consistency like we have always
hoped they would. We will see if the
Cardinals rotation can continue to put up solid innings and see how effective
that bullpen can be as it rounds into form.
I have
been speaking about the Wild Card Spot, but is there any chance that the
Cardinals could actually catch the Cincinnati Reds in the Divisional race? While it is a dangerous aspect to look at as both
teams and the Cardinals in particular are capable of losing to anyone. The Reds and Cardinals will play 4 more times
after today’s game, with the last series of the season being this matchup
between the two teams in St. Louis.
While the Cardinals are playing the Pirates and Nationals, the Reds will
be playing the D-Backs and Astros to close out the season. After that the Reds will play the Astros
three more times which will equal the number of times the Cardinals play the
basement dwelling team from Texas for the rest of the season. Both teams also have series against the
Dodgers, Cubs, and Pirates although the Reds will play the Pirates twice over
the rest of the season compared to the Cardinals. The Reds will also have series with the
Phillies, Marlins, and Brewers while the Cardinals will play the San Diego and
another series against the Nationals.
With
neither team having a large advantage as far as strength of schedule goes, the
Division will boil down to what the Cardinals needed last season: a downturn
from the Reds at the precise moment that the Cardinals find losing a rare and
unwelcomed aberration. While I would
love to believe that this is possible, can we really hope for the stars to
align for the second straight season for the Cardinals? Is it really a possible and likely scenario
that they will skate their way into the postseason with as much credit going to
the teams who are playing the chased as the Cardinal team doing the chasing? Luckily for this team though, this season comes
equipped with the destiny assisting second Wild Card spot. I for one will be watching with
excitement. While the Cardinals still
have a lot of work to get a chance at another playoff run this season, an
actual race for a division title would not be too bad to enjoy with heightened
pulses.
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