On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Cardinals not only finished off a sweep of the San Diego Padres inside Busch Stadium, but also likely finished the Padres season as well.
St. Louis has become a bully when it comes to assuming command of its own National League Wild Card destiny. With its eighth straight win on Sunday, St. Louis now sits three games up in the chase for the second NL Wild Card (with either San Francisco or the Los Angeles Dodgers earning the top Wild Card and home field advantage for the one-game playoff on Wednesday, October 6).
It’s been nothing but up for the Cardinals in recent days. On September 7, after dropping a 7-2 home game to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the chances for St. Louis to reach the postseason, according to FanGraphs, stood at just 2.8 percent. Just 12 days later, St. Louis is one of the hottest teams in all of baseball and that percentage of reaching the postseason stands at 72.3 percent after Sunday’s win.
Since that loss to the Dodgers, St. Louis has been on fire. They took the next two games from the Dodgers, then won two of three from Cincinnati. From there, it’s been six straight wins, including a three-game road sweep against the New York Mets and coming home to take three from San Diego. Those last three teams, by the way, are all chasing the same Wild Card spot St. Louis has stamped their name on for the time being.
So what has been the secret to success for the St. Louis Cardinals in their chase for the Wild Card?
Let’s look at three big factors that have pushed St. Louis into strong contention for the postseason.