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Adam Wainwright came through for the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday vs the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, Saturday’s start for Wainwright vs the San Francisco Giants is shaping up to be just as important.
The St. Louis Cardinals need Adam Wainwright to come through again on Saturday. The veteran right hander’s start vs the Giants may be pivotal in the Cards pursuit of the Wild Card.
Why?
Depending on what happens Friday night, Saturday’s game against the Giants will be either a chance for the Cardinals to set up a sweep on Sunday, or prevent Sunday’s game from being a must-win for the Cardinals.
In other words, a Wainwright victory on Saturday, will take the pressure off the St. Louis Cardinals for Sunday’s game. It avoids a potential sweep by the Giants or could set up a sweep by the Cardinals.
The St. Louis Cardinals could possibly afford losing two games in the series, but being swept by the Giants would be a disaster this late in the season. With series against the Brewers and the Cubs next week, the Giants present a great opportunity or possible….catastrophe for the Redbirds.
Once again, this is why Wainwright’s Saturday start is so important.
The Giants, a thorn in the side of the Cardinals
The Giants have been a thorn in the side of the St. Louis Cardinals in recent years, especially when it comes to the postseason. Just consider the NLCS in 2012 and 2014. A weekend sweep by the Giants would add salt to those still-fresh wounds.
However, the Giants are facing another losing season that follows up their 2017, 98-loss season. Going into this weekend series, the Giants are 72-81 and are eliminated from any chance of a postseason birth. With an aging lineup that once included both Andrew McCutchen (now a Yankee) and Evan Longoria, the Giants bid for another pennant collapsed in July.
Therefore, an opportunity presents itself this weekend for the St. Louis Cardinals against the struggling Giants. The schedule doesn’t get easier next week and taking two or three games this weekend would be a nice boost going into the final week of the season.
The Cubs, Brewers, Dodgers, and Rockies
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When the Cardinals face the Brewers and the Cubs next week, they are unlikely to get two teams that are just cruising into the postseason. The Cubs only have a 2.5 game lead over the Brewers for the NL-Central title and don’t want to find themselves pushed back into a WC game.
Consequently, the Brewers see a chance to steal the division away from the Cubs. With a season-ending series vs the Tigers, the Brewers could see themselves sneaking away with the division while the Cardinals and Cubs battled it out.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers and Rockies are in a death match for the NL-West title. The second place finisher in this division could find themselves out of the postseason altogether. As of Friday, the Dodgers have a 2.5 game lead over the Rockies, but the Rockies are only 1.5 games behind the Cardinals for the second WC spot.
Another important start for Waino
As you can see, a sweep by the Giants this weekend could push the St. Louis Cardinals out of the second WC spot going into the series against the Brewers on Monday. That’s why Adam Wainwright‘s start against the Giants on Saturday is so important.
A loss on Friday, means the Cardinals desperately need to win on Saturday. A win on Friday, presents opportunities with Wainwright’s start.
John Gant vs Madison Bumgarner on Friday, Wainwright vs Dereck Rodriguez on Saturday, and Miles Mikolas vs Andrew Suarez on Sunday.
If Adam Wainwright can come through again on Saturday, I like the Cardinals’ chances on Sunday with Mikolas.
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment. And as usual….Go Cards!