St. Louis Cardinals: Your Memphis Redbirds are PCL Division CHAMPS!

The St. Louis Cardinals’ AAA team in Memphis, the Redbirds, clinched the Pacific Coast League Southern Divisional Championship last night. All of Cardinals Nation should celebrate!

The St. Louis Cardinals‘ AAA-affiliate Memphis Redbirds just clinched the PCL Southern Division Championship on Sunday night after defeating the Nashville Sounds. This will be a return to the postseason for the Redbirds after last appearing in the AAA postseason in 2014.

Four times before- in 2000, 2009, 2010, and 2014- the Memphis Redbirds appeared in the postseason. Many of the players who appeared in these contests are now playing or have played for the St. Louis Cardinals. As a matter of fact, many of the players from the 2009 Memphis Redbirds postseason were a part of the 2011 World Series St. Louis Cardinals team.

Currently the Cardinals are coming off of an 8-1 record across the past nine games. The birds on the bat are now contemplating a serious run to the postseason and have big shoes to fill as their AAA counterparts have notched their place in the postseason with 21 games remaining on the AAA calendar.

21 games!! Can you imagine? What if the St. Louis Cardinals could clinch that far out?!

Aiding the Memphis Redbirds this season have been the likes of Carson Kelly, Randal Grichuk (for a time), Aledmys Diaz (currently working with Memphis and also sliding over to third base), Stephen Piscotty (currently on rehab with the team), Alex Mejia, Patrick Wisdom, and acquired-at-the-deadline Tyler O’Neill.

In addition to the offense shown through the names above, the Redbirds have benefited from impressive mound work from Mike Mayers (who for a while had a sub-1.00 ERA), John Gant, Luke Weaver, and big-name prospects Jack Flaherty and Dakota Hudson.

Let’s take just a moment to enjoy the offensive prowess that is on display through center fielder, Harrison Bader. Bader had outstanding June numbers and outstanding July numbers. In June, Harrison posted a .317/.355/.564. July saw him post a slash of .314/.377/.600. These numbers helped him make his MLB debut in July.

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Memphis is surely glad to have him back with them as they barrel into the postseason. Another addition they are glad to have- bravo to you, Mr. Mozeliak- is O’Neill who has smashed an slugging percentage of .506 since joining the Redbirds.

Even more impressive is the fact that the Redbirds own a record that has them 39 games over the .500-mark! 39 games! According to the Redbirds’ press release, this puts them in rare company as only two other teams have clinched their divisions with greater than 20 games: the 1970 Spokane Indians (26 games) and the 1981 Albuquerque Dukes (25 games). The Redbirds have clinched some 22 games above their next rival.

The AAA postseason will kick off on September 6 and 7 at Autozone Park in Memphis. Playoff atmosphere will fill the bluff city. I urge you to make your plans to attend!

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Can the magic of the Memphis team spill over onto the St. Louis Cardinals? Surely the excitement of fans will bleed into the Cardinals and surely the players making a splash for the Redbirds will be included in September call-ups once they sweep through the AAA postseason.