St. Louis Cardinals: Next six games are crucial wins

The St. Louis Cardinals have turned their season around and have won each series under interim manager Mike Shildt. The winning ways must continue throughout these next six games.

While the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Pirates and the Reds, who will their competition for the postseason face? The Cubs are set to finish their set against the Mets at home on Tuesday and Wednesday and then travel to Braves for a one-game makeup on Thursday before facing-off against the Phillies for three games.

If the Cubs keep their winning ways, they are likely to see themselves stay atop the NL-Central through these series. That said, if the Cardinals win as I have predicted, then the Cubs will certainly feel the pinch.

The Brewers- the Cardinals’ wild card competition- are set to open a 3-game set against the Reds on Tuesday (before the Reds travel to St. Louis) in the Great American (small) Ballpark. They will then travel to the Washington Nationals who sit firmly 8.0 games back of the lead in the NL-East.

With the Nationals and Reds seemingly out of the postseason race for 2018, I look for the Brewers to apply heat to the Cardinals and the Cubs as they will likely win their series as well.

The Rockies- the St. Louis Cardinals’ trailing wild card competition- will finish their short 2-game set in Los Angeles facing the Angels on Tuesday night. They dropped the first game of the set on Monday and Cardinals fans would love to see them drop Tuesday’s contest as well.

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Following an off-day, the Rockies will open a 4-game set in San Diego. Sadly, they will likely win this series which could apply pressure to the Cardinals in their respective series.

The Phillies, who are back of the Rockies in the wild card hunt, dropped the first game of the Nationals set on Monday night and have two more games in this set at home. Closing out the month of August, the Phillies will host the Cubs. I look for the Phillies to fade from view in the wild card hunt.

This means that the Dodgers stand a good chance of moving up in the wild card competition. They are set to open a 2-game series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, TX on Tuesday. The Rangers are the absolute last in the AL-West and fans should look for the Dodgers to take both games (unless the Rangers can sweep them as the Cardinals recently did to them).

Following the Rangers series, the Dodgers will close the month of August hosting the NL-West first place Diamondbacks at home. This is a 4-game set that could allow the Dodgers to climb in the rankings of the NL-West so I look for them to be at the peak of their competition. That said, the Diamondbacks are likely to put up one heck of a fight.

Conclusion

The St. Louis Cardinals are the masters of their future and MUST win each game they can in this six-game set. Their competition is not looking to fade from view (with the exception of the Phillies) and if the Cardinals are interested in playing baseball in October then they need to turn on the jets now.

Looking beyond these next two series, the month of September doesn’t bring with hit a great deal of “easy” series. Keeping this in mind, the St. Louis Cardinals have no better time than now to rack up victories.

I want to see the birds on the bat in October but more importantly I want them to win and win today. Thanks for reading!