As the Cubs reached the century mark last night in wins, matching the Cardinals’ total from last year, those same Cardinals lost to the Reds after losing a weekend series in Chicago. And the loss to the Reds … well, sum it up:
Mike Matheny, on #STLCards 15-2 loss: "You never want to be embarrassed, and that’s an embarrassing loss." Recap: https://t.co/W1WMxIbn3Q
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) September 27, 2016
Pretty much. It’s baseball, and anything can happen in an individual game, but getting utterly blown out at home by a terrible, rebuilding team when there’s just a week left in the season and you’re a half-game out of the Wild Card? That’s pretty bad.
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But, then, a 2-1 loss would have damaged the Cardinals’ playoff chances just as much, so maybe it doesn’t matter as much as it’s just embarrassing.
The Mets also lost last night, but no one will call dropping a game to the emotionally-charged Marlins embarrassing. Those Marlins are now 4.0 games out of the second Wild Card spot, but with an elimination number of just two, it’s going to be nearly impossible for them to stay in the race for more than another day or two. It’s impressive that they hung around this long this season, and I can’t say too much more about the present Marlins without getting sad.
Bartolo Colon, one of the few remaining healthy Mets pitchers, was bounced early, which (for them) was hopefully not a sign of trouble. Noah Syndergaard pitches tonight in what could be his final regular season start, depending on how things shake out. He’d be lined up to pitch on the final day of the regular season (Sunday) if needed, which would in turn line him up to kick off the NLDS if the Mets got there (and thus could start twice). Cubs fans should not want to see that, so I guess here’s hoping Syndergaard pitches the Wild Card Game, or is needed for a tiebreaker after the final game of the regular season. If he starts on Sunday, then seeing the Mets in the NLDS becomes a whole lot less palatable.
The Giants were off last night, so the NL Wild Card standings have the Mets up a half-game on the Giants, who are up a full game on the Cardinals.
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