The Cardinals are Red Hot heading into the playoffs with 17 wins in a row, breaking their own franchise record of 14 wins, and clinching a Wildcard spot. Harrison Bader, Cardinals Outfielder, earned player of the week this past week. In his last 7 games he had 27 AB’s, 11 R’s, 15 H’s, 3 HR’s, 6 RBI’s, and 2 SB’s. The Cardinals have 5 regular season games left until the playoffs, playing both the Brewers and Cubs. 

The Cardinals have a good chance to play the Dodgers who are currently at 102 wins and 56 losses. Dodgers star pitcher Max Scherzer is their likely man to throw who has a 2.46 ERA. Dodgers are a tough team to beat with their infield consisting of Trea Turner at 2nd, Justin Turner at 3rd, Cory Seager at SS, and either Albert Puljos or Max Muncy at first. Their Catching roster consists of Austin Barnes and Will Smith. Their outfield is just as good with Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts, Aj Pollock, Chris Taylor, and Matt Beaty. Even though Mookie Betts has been out for a good amount of the season, don’t count him out to put on a show when he returns. 

Although the Dodgers are a good team, the Cardinals have a good team of their own, with their infield consisting of Nolan Arenado at 3rd, Matt Carpenter who can play anywhere, Paul Dejong playing mostly SS, Tommy Edman who can play at any of the infield positions, Paul Goldschmidt at 1st, José Rondon at both middler infield position, and Edmundo Sosá at either SS or 2nd. The Cardinals have many options for the infield, with the veteran leader of the group at C, Yadier Molina. His backup is Andrew Knizner, who hasn’t played much but no doubt is learning a lot by watching and listening to what a veteran catcher like Molina has to say. Now the Cardinals outfield is just as good or maybe even better than the Dodgers outfield with Harrison Bader, Tyler O’Neill, Lars Nootbar, and Dylan Carlson. The Cardinals Most likely man to throw is Adam Wainwright with a 3.05 ERA and recently hit 2,000 career strikeouts, a huge milestone for the veteran pitcher. 

The Cardinals and Dodgers are both very good teams, but I think the Cardinals will come out with the victory and move on to the world series, playing the best teams in the MLB.