The St. Louis Cardinals’ impressive winning streak is still alive. The Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-2 on Tuesday, claiming their 17th win in a row and improving to an 88-69 record.
More importantly for the Cardinals, the win against the Brewers also secured them a spot in the National League wild-card game.
Entering September, the Cardinals were predicted to have around a three percent chance to make the postseason, with the San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds leading the race. But the Padres and the Reds inexplicably stumbled while the Cardinals thrived.
After winning 17 consecutive games since September 12th, the Cardinals are now sitting at second-place in the NL Central. The Reds have an 82-76 record and are 6.5 games behind the Cardinals in the division, while the Padres crashed below .500 and are third in the NL West with a 78-79 record.
“17in a row, you can’t plan for that,” Cardinals All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt told reporters after the Brewers game. “But going into this last month, we just knew that we needed to win series. If we could win the series, we could gain ground. But 17 … you can’t explain that.”
The St. Louis Cardinals will now await the result of the NL West race to learn their opponent in the wild card. The Cardinals will play either against the San Francisco Giants or the Los Angeles Dodgers, depending on which team finishes second. The Giants are currently at the top of the division with two games in front of the Dodgers.
