St. Louis Cardinals: The Chicago Cubs Worst Nightmare

The St. Louis Cardinals have nearly ended the Chicago Cubs postseason hopes with a four-game sweep at Wrigley Field, and this series just flipped the Cubs season upside down.

It seemed like things were going the Chicago Cubs way before Thursday’s game began. Anthony Rizzo made a surprising return because it was the most important series of the year for Chicago.

Before the beginning of what was set up to be one of the best series of the season, the Cubs were just three games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central and could possibly take the division lead with a series sweep.

Well, the exact opposite happened.

The Cubs had a lead going into the later innings in three of the four games, but couldn’t save any game.

Craig Kimbrel is turning out to be one of the worst free-agent signings of the offseason, as it seems like he hasn’t been able to close out any meaningful game this season.

Before Thursday’s game, the Cubs had a three-game gap between them and the Cards.

They entered the series with a goal to at least split the series, so they can go into Pittsburgh still just three back of the division and at pace with the Brewers for the Wild Card.

Now, they are 7 games back in the Central and 4 back of the Brewers for the second Wild Card.

When Theo Epstein looks back on the season, it should be defined by this series. Chicago was at home and had all the momentum to inch closer to the Cardinals for the Central lead but instead, their season is now over.

Joe Maddon‘s job might have been decided by this series, especially with his questionable decision on Sunday afternoon.

With Darvish already above 100 pitches and struggling in the 9th, he left him in instead of bringing in Pedro Strop, and he paid for it.

Darvish gave up the game-winning RBI double to Paul Goldschmidt, which vaulted the Cardinals into the postseason and the Cubs out of it.