Ah yes, playoff time. The #3 seeded St. Louis Cardinals, your NL central champions take on the #6 seeded Philadelphia Phillies in the best of 3 wild card round with the winner moving on to face the #2 seeded Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Let’s take a look at each team and what’s been happening in the week leading up to game 1.
The Cardinals-
St. Louis has been on smooth sailing since clinching the division, The regular starters like Tommy Edman and Nolan Arenado were getting much needed rest and the staff had been keeping close eyes on our pitching staff as it’s been a question mark on which arms would be included on the postseason roster. Zack Thompson, a lefty reliever played himself into a spot with a clutch performance coming in for an injured Ryan Helsley (who jammed his middle finger) and got out of a bases loaded jam. Jordan Hicks also came off the injured list with a day left in the regular season and threw an inning of relief allowing only 2 hits but most importantly showing that he still had his filthy pitch mix working. Them along with the usual faces of Matz, Gallegos, Pallante and Helsley will be in the pen and the Cardinals are rested and geared up for a potential deep playoff run.
The Phillies-
As to the City of Brotherly love there wasn’t much smooth sailing for them as they were the last team to secure a playoff spot. The 3 headed Dragon of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez have been rolling through offenses and the long ball has been on the Phillies side thanks to Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber however they have a few gaping holes. The Phillies have a shaky bullpen with Seranthony Dominguez and Jose Alvarado being there best healthy arms. (Both known for imploding). The Phillies also have arguably the worse defense in the MLB with guys like Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber leading the charge. It’ll be an uphill battle for the Phillies but anything can happen when it’s October.
Series prediction
Cardinals in 3
I like having Jose Quintana and Miles Milokas going for us game 1 and 2 however it’s bound for either Wheeler or Nola to take a game on us. When it comes down to Game 3 we will have either Flaherty, Montgomery or Waino on the mound who are 3 pitchers who rise to the occasion when the pressure is on. The Phillies are a good team, I’d frankly give it to them if they were at home but this series is taking place in the Lou where you can’t stop the devil magic.