There’s only about 6 days left in the Major League Baseball season and the St. Louis Cardinals are by far the hottest team in the game right now and as I mentioned in my last video, they tied the franchise record with 14 straight wins – within hours of that video they broke the franchise record with their 15th straight win and yesterday made it 16. Yes, there is time for them to slow down and they certainly can and probably will lose at least one more game before the playoffs, but I just don’t think there’s time for this team to slow down much before that Wild Card Game. That game, whether it’s versus the Giants or Dodgers – hopefully Dodgers- will be absolutely epic and a must-watch baseball game. Maybe that’s the point of the one-game Wild Card but I still think it’s a terrible idea as it would still be a must-watch game if it was a Game 3 in a best of 3, and at least then the team with 100+ wins would get another crack at it should they lose Game 1. But it is what it is and the Cardinals are going to be in that game unless they pretty much lose for the rest of the year and the Phillies win for the rest of the year – which is pretty much not happening.
To recap the last couple games, Sunday it was the red-hot Harrison Bader going deep right away to put the Cards up 1 nothing. The Cubs came back to make it 2-1, at which time I got some comments in my video indicating the Cubs were winning and I responded – yeah, this game is far from over. Tyler O’Neil smashes a home run to tie it. The Cubs came roaring back again so shoutout to the Cubbies for putting up a good fight, but in the 7th, Bader drives in Arenado, Nootbaar drives in Molina and Paul Dejong drives in Bader to give the Cards the lead for good. Paul Dejong hits a 2-run bomb for some insurance and the Cardinals break their all-time winning streak record.
Harrison Bader
Yesterday to make it 16 in a row, it was the scorching hot Paul Goldschmidt who went deep to make it 1-0 in the first. The Cubs again came back to take a 2-1 lead just like they did Sunday, but once again – the Cardainals offense was just too much for the Cubbies and Harrison Bader hits another home run, tying the game at 2. The Cards rallied for 2 more in the top of the 9th to take this one 4-2. This team is definitely red hot right now and barring an epic collapse over the next 5-6 days, this team will be extremely confident going into to that one-game Wild Card, which brings up to an update for the National League West.
The Giants keep winning and now hold a 2-game lead in the West, which is not a very big lead in July but on September 27th, it’s a fairly strong lead. If the Giants just go .500 the rest of the way, the Dodgers will have to win every single game to win the division. So, as of now, the Giants are clear favorites to win the division and even Fangraphs finally agrees with at, although they somehow still have the Dodgers as favorites to win the World Series which makes no sense to me since they have to go through an extra game if they are the Wild Card, but that’s fine.
Right now, the Giants control their destiny and things are lining up as of now for the San Francisco Giants to win the west and go straight into the National League Division series, but that could change so don’t misquote me; I’m just saying that’s how it’s looking right now. Let me know Cardinals fans, who would you rather face in that Wild Card game – the Giants at Oracle Park with a young Logan Webb or perhaps Kevin Gausman or the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium with perhaps Max Scherzer taking the mound or if not him, well there’s Walker Buehler or Julio Urias, so that’s going to be tough regardless.
I would be terrified of that game and am terrified of that game as it’s not yet a guarantee the Giants won’t be in it. The hot hand wins in the playoffs and yes, I get it- the Giants could face the Cardinals anyway but I am so much more confident in a series. I still remember 2012 very well – the Giants were down 3-1 to the Cardinals in the NLCS and had lost Game 1 with the Cardinals – the only time I ever remember Madison Bumgarner sucking the playoffs. David Frese went deep, Carlos Beltran went deep and if that had been a one game or go home series, it would’ve been a wrap. But the Giants came back and won the series against a Cardinals team who was the Wild Card team that year but they didn’t have to play the Giants, because the Giants won their division that year with 94 wins – nowhere near as many as they’ll have this year. So, anything can happen in one game and the Cardinals have reason be extremely confident. And by the way, the Cardinals are 45-36 on the road this year including wins in Dodger Stadium and Oracle Park. Also, remember the 2014 American League Wild Card team, the Kansas Royals, who won 6 of their last 8 games and then went on the sweep the entire playoffs up until they met up with the Giants in the World Series. Momentum matters in baseball and the Cardinals got it right now, but the Giants have had it pretty much all year so what a matchup it would be if the Giants and Cardinals collide the playoffs; I’m just hoping it’s not in that one Game Wild Card.