MLB Playoffs: San Francisco Giants own Wild Card tiebreaker over St. Louis Cardinals
By Bryan Rose
No more than a week ago, the St. Louis Cardinals had to feel pretty good in regards to their odds of winning the National League Central division. But a late season surge from the Pittsburgh Pirates now has St. Louis clinging to a 1.5 game lead with a week left in the regular season.
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To make matters worse for St. Louis, they’re only one game ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the loss column. Needless to say, it’s going to be a tight race to the finish.
So what happens to the St. Louis Cardinals if the Pittsburgh Pirates storm back and capture the National League Central crown? Well, St. Louis has already clinched a playoff birth so at minimum, they’re in. But they won’t have the security of playing a full series to open the postseason as they’d become a Wild Card team if they were overtaken by the Pirates.
If such was to happen, they’re likely to play the San Francisco Giants in the Wild Card play-in game. San Francisco’s magic number is down to one game and they’re locked in to be the National League’s final playoff team with one more victory (or a Milwaukee Brewers loss).
Assuming Pittsburgh was to overtake St. Louis, the Cardinals would be forced to travel to California where they’d take on the San Francisco Giants in a winner-take-all game given the Giants won the season series over the Cardinals.
Of course, for this to happen the St. Louis Cardinals would have to fall out of first place which at this point, doesn’t seem likely.
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