Good, Bad and Ugly: St. Louis Cardinals advance to wild card

The St. Louis Cardinals had an anti-climatic finish to their 2021 regular season.

The 2021 regular season is over for the St. Louis Cardinals. It wasn’t much to cheer about as this team has their eye keenly set for Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The Cardinals defeated the Cubs Friday 4-3, they lost 6-5 on Saturday and lost Sunday after a rain delay ending the game after seven innings, 3-2.

Let’s discuss the series.

The Good

Tyler O’Neill has himself a game Friday, but things were only golden from there for the Cardinals.

O’Neill knocked his 33rd home run of the season in the first inning off Cory Abbott. In the fourth inning, he hit his 34th homer of the season off Abbott with the blast going to left-center field.

In the eighth inning, O’Neill scored after Lars Nootbaar singled to center field off Scott Effross.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Paul Goldschmidt hit a line-drive single to left field, scoring Andrew Knizner to win it for the Cardinals in walk-off fashion.

It was great to see the celebration after Goldschmidt hit!

The Bad

The rain spoiled a perfectly good afternoon of baseball on Sunday. The organization emotionally celebrated the final regular-season home season game for long-time broadcaster Mike Shannon, who is retiring after 50 seasons in the booth and even more time as a player with the organization. The Cardinal Hall of Famer did get to share some more of his wonderful stories during a few rain delays during the game, so that’s positive.

Manager Mike Shildt shifted around players during the game so none of the team’s regulars saw significant playing time Sunday. Other than a beautiful blast from Tommy Edman to lead off the top of the first inning, the Cardinals weren’t able to do much at the plate.

It was a disappointing ending to the final regular-season home team for the club who had such an amazing September.

The Ugly

The Cardinals had a 5-4 lead going into the ninth inning and then Ian Happ happened again to the team.

Luis Garcia had been having a great stretch as a reliever for the Cardinals. Baseball happens, though. With Frank Schwindel on base, Happ hit his 25th home run of the center on a deep fly to center field.

Quite disappointing!

But, Harrison Bader lead off the game with his 16th home run of the season on a fly to left field off Adrian Sampson.

In the fifth inning, Tyler O’Neill hit his second triple of the season to right field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt.

Tommy Edman singled to center field, scoring Bader in the seventh inning. Dylan Carlson singled to left field scoring O’Neill and Edman.

It had the potential to be a great Saturday evening at the ballpark. Baseball HAPP-ens though.,

In Conclusion

Shildt got his team some playing time as well as some rest this weekend as they prepare to head to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers for the NL Wild Card game. After a September to remember, even this sluggish weekend to end the regular season should not deter the Cardinals from continuing to shock everyone.

The Cardinals have another shot at post-season glory. They look hungry and ready to go. Here’s hoping for a few more home games as we head into the postseason.