Inability to beat the Reds could cost St. Louis Cardinals

Their inability to beat the Cincinnati Reds could cost the St. Louis Cardinals a playoff berth.

The St. Louis Cardinals have had plenty of chances to put themselves into the second National League wild card spot. But with 21 games left in the regular season, they find themselves three games back. And their matchups against the Cincinnati Reds are a large reason why.

The Cardinals have lost five consecutive games against the Reds at Busch Stadium and have also lost the season series, as Zachary Silver of MLB.com noted. Their latest defeat, an easily winnable 4-2 loss in which Jon Lester pitched an absolute gem, made it even tougher on the Cardinals to pull off an improbable comeback. And it was clear that players were frustrated after the game.

“We have to win these games,” Nolan Arenado said. “It’s home field. We have to take care of our home field and we haven’t really done that this year.”

Arenado, 30, is partially to blame and he took ownership of his recent poor performance after the game. But the Cardinals’ issues are bigger than Arenado. The offense, which scored 15 runs in the first game of a recent series against the Milwaukee Brewers, has scored 2.43 runs per game in seven games since. They have scored more than two runs just twice. And their best player, the player who was supposed to catapult the Cardinals into World Series contenders, is nowhere to be seen.

To his credit, Arenado is not hiding from it. He understands what is being demanded of him from the Cardinals and their fans. But the team has been put in position to win a lot of these games, especially with strong performances from Lester and a depleted pitching staff, and the offense hasn’t capitalized on those opportunities.

The season is not over. Not by a longshot, especially since the Cardinals have two more games against the Reds in this series and plenty more against other playoff hopeful teams. But their inability to beat the Reds, and their consistently inconsistent offense, has put them in position to watch the postseason from their couches.

The next two games will be critical in determining what the rest of this season has to offer. And if they want to make one final playoff push, it starts with beating the Reds at Busch Stadium. But can they do it?