Mike Shildt completely blew Wild Card game by bringing in Alex Reyes

Alex Reyes has failed before in big spots, as recently as this season. Yet, Mike Shildt went to him in the Cardinals biggest moment. It didn’t pay off.

Shildt dared to go to Reyes when the Cardinals needed him most. In just one batter, it failed miserably.

Reyes allowed Cody Bellinger to steal second base thanks to a slow righty-righty delivery. He bounced the ball to Yadier Molina, and Yadi failed to get a grip on the baseball, allowing Bellinger to steal second with ease.

Later in the at-bat, he served up a meatball to Chris Taylor, who abided with the Cardinals fate and hit a bomb out to left field. The rest is history, and the Dodgers will advance to face the Giants in the NLDS.

America gets what they want: a Dodgers-Giants NLDS between the best two teams in baseball. Cardinals fans, meanwhile, are left in shambles. That’s just how baseball works sometimes.

It was completely avoidable in this scenario, however. Let’s get that straight from the jump.

Cardinals: Mike Shildt deserves blame for pitching Alex Reyes

This is not all on Reyes, as it wasn’t his decision to be put in the game in this critical of a situation. He was removed as closer this season, and has a bright future in the organization at the back end of that bullpen.

The Cardinals bullpen is deep, not to mention they could have gone to their rotation in a winner-take-all game against the Dodgers. Instead, Reyes was called upon and once again failed to deliver in a big spot.

Cardinals fans have seen this before. There’s a reason they weren’t surprised, albeit disappointed.

https://twitter.com/PrimeRagu/status/1445967561129177089

Of course, everyone saw this coming. Even those who support the St. Louis Cardinals on a daily basis.

Somehow, someway, Mike Shildt did not. And that deserves some serious discussion postgame.

As for Reyes himself, a tough turnaround heading into 2022 just got even tougher. While that may not be the storyline fans care about right now, if he were to be their closer of the future, he now has some serious baggage. Good luck ridding that so easily.