A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
If you would have told Chris Callaway after the Brewers swept St. Louis in June, that they would be facing the Cardinals with home-field advantage for the right to go to the World Series, he would have shotgunned a celebratory Old Milwaukee right there on the spot. But here we are in that very situation today.
The Milwaukee Brewers walk-off win against the Arizona Diamondbacks last night to move on to the NLCS may have been the greatest baseball moment Kurt Crowley has ever experienced. It also set up an NLCS matchup between the Brewers and Cardinals that features what Crowley calls “the most intense rivalry in MLB”.
Led by their Four Aces, the Phillies cruised to their fifth straight NL East title, winning a franchise-record 102 games. The Cardinals needed an incredible collapse by Atlanta and help from Philadelphia to earn the wild card. They meet up starting today in one NLDS matchup.
MLB has a slogan: “Always Epic”. But America’s Pastime, certainly the final days of its regular season, are certainly not always this epic. Jerod breaks down the TV schedule and pitching matchups for the final day of the regular season, plus the schedule for the play-in games that could occur tomorrow.
To this point the Nyjer circus – which we got another example of last night – has proven to be a tonic that has loosened the Milwaukee clubhouse, which remains good, unless that amusement crosses the line to becoming a distraction.
Over the next 38 days, the National League Central Division will go a long ways toward being decided. During that time-frame, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals will each play 35 games…including 12 against each other, beginning Monday night at Miller Park.
Was the slight delay on this week’s MLB Trivia Challenge Podcast sponsored by Generational Equity worth it? It was. Because this week’s guest is sports blog patron saint, movie reviewer extraordinaire, and die-hard Cardinals fan Will Leitch.
Today, we preview the NL Central and predict whether it will be the Reds heading to the playoffs yet again, or if the retooled Brewers or the consistent Cardinals can take the title.
Cardinals SP Adam Wainwright is leaving the Cardinals’ Jupiter, Florida Spring Training camp to have his pitching elbow examined. The prevailing opinion seems to be that Tommy John surgery could be necessary. Uh oh.
Jack Clark stepped out of the tanning bed and went on a rant, saying that the St. Louis Cardinals are playing with “poopy in their pants and skid marks in their britches.” Listen to the audio of Clark’s rant here.
Together, Adam Wainwright and Skip Schumacher of the St. Louis Cardinals have produced what is perhaps the six strangest seconds of sports video that you’ll find on YouTube.
In a 24 hour period, as the Washington Nationals were knocking around St. Louis — and perhaps ruining the Cards’ playoff chances — they also knocked the Cardinals around…literally. Three times in fact.
With all due respect to the Yankees heading to Arlington for a first-place showdown with the Rangers, there’s no better series the next three days than when the second place St. Louis Cardinals move 350 miles northeast to take on the first place Cincinnati Reds.
Will Leitch, the founding editor of Deadspin and author of Are We Winning, is the latest guest on the MSF Podcast. He and Jerod discuss a number of topics related to baseball, including the greatness of Albert Pujols and how Cubs fans should have reacted to Steve Bartman.
