St. Louis Cardinals: The (2018) party is over but no crying

2018 has come to an end for the St. Louis Cardinals. This doesn’t mean that fans should cry.

The St. Louis Cardinals‘ 2018 season came to an end at the hands of the San Francisco Giants and their inability to win. But wait, the actual season likely came to an end far before this time so it isn’t really fair to say that the Cardinals’ season hinged on whether the Giants could win or lose.

Now that the dance music has stopped and the birds have no chance of playing into October, many fans would give up on the final game of the season. I am not one of these fans. Instead, I find myself wishing and hoping that the St. Louis Cardinals can at the very least play spoilers to the Cubs.

Here’s the scenario today: the Brewers and the Cubs are both tied at the top of the NL-Central. The winner of the pennant will have to win today- the final day of the 2018 season- and pray that the other loses. With that in mind, these are the likely outcomes today and how the St. Louis Cardinals play heavily into these outcomes.

• Cardinals win making the Cubs a loser and the Brewers win = Brewers take the pennant (most desirable) and the Cubs play on Tuesday in the wild card game.
• Cardinals lose making the Cubs a winner and the Brewers lose = Cubs take the pennant (most undesirable) and the Brewers play on Tuesday in the wild card game.
• Cardinals win making the Cubs a loser and the Brewers lose = Cubs and Brewers face-off head-to-head on Monday in Wrigley for their place in the postseason with the loser playing on Tuesday as the wild card.
• Cardinals lose making the Cubs a winner and the Brewers win as well = Cubs and Brewers face-off head-to-head on Monday in Wrigley

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While I would much rather have the St. Louis Cardinals in these discussions with an outcome for Monday or Tuesday, I am glad they are still in the conversation.

Looking at today’s game, I am equally glad that Mike Shildt has decided to rest the following players: Yadier Molina, Bud Norris, Marcell Ozuna, Kolten Wong, and Jordan Hicks. Many of these are not playing today due to lingering injury and with sights on the future.

I’m good with that. I would hate for any of these to play and get hurt even worse. Also of interest, today’s start for Jack Flaherty is a regular start and has no limit placed upon him. This says to me that the Cardinals are well aware of the spoiler role they can play today and are taking this role seriously.

I’m always secretly sad when the St. Louis Cardinals’ season comes to an end. This feeling isn’t different this year but there is also relief that a bumpy season has ended. My hope now stands on 2019…