Three takeaways from the Cardinals series loss to the Phillies

This past weekend, the Cardinals faced off against the reigning National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. It was the Phillies' first trip to Busch Stadium since last year's Wild Card Series. Of course, the Phillies won that series in two games, eliminating the Cardinals and ending the careers of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina in the process.

No careers ended this weekend, but the Cardinals didn't have it easy by any means. After being swept in Philadelphia, the same thing nearly occurred at Busch Stadium this weekend. The Phils took the first two games and almost stole the finale away from the Cardinals.

Fortunately, Jordan Walker had other ideas as he hit a go-ahead bomb in the eighth inning to make it a 6-5 game. Ryan Helsley held on for the save as the Cardinals prevented a sweep.

So while it ended on a good note, the series itself was mostly sour, and the Cardinals really didn't get much of a chance to play the role of spoiler on the Phillies, which was going to be hard anyway with the Phillies already essentially a lock for October.

And right now, it's very clear that the Phillies have the Cardinals' number. In fact, it's been since June of 2017 that the Cardinals have actually won a series against them.

The season series has officially come to an end, and the Phillies took five out of six games from the Cardinals.

In this piece, we will discuss three major takeaways from the series against the reigning NL champs.