With aching bodies and tired minds, the St. Louis Cardinals have made it back to Wrigley Field for quite possibly the biggest game and series of the 2019 season.
A bitter nail-biting rivalry between two teams fighting for the NL Central division. The St. Louis Cardinals. The Chicago Cubs. Wrigley Field. Yeah, you get it.
Sounds like the perfect script for both teams, doesn’t it?
Milwaukee is currently tied with Chicago and looming behind St. Louis like a menace, everything that happens in this series will change the outlook of the division. Good or bad.
The magic number is currently sitting pretty at eight before tonight’s first pitch at the Friendliest of Confines. (Pending the results of Milwaukee hosting the final game against San Diego.)
So what could go wrong?
Well, anything and everything to be quite honest. The track record against Kyle Hendricks isn’t worth writing home about. In May, Hendricks tossed a 81-pitch shutout against the birds, so they’ll need to go in and quickly figure out a way to beat the right handed pitcher with an ERA of 0.39 against them. (And yes, it can be done — the Cardinals took down Strasburg and Scherzer just this week.)
Don’t fret over the past. Jack Flaherty is a prime example of how strong this team can be and how much the overall outlook for the 2019 Cardinals has changed since the All-Star Break. Flaherty has been an absolute mad man on the mound against his opponents. He boasts a 1.07 ERA in his last 13 starts.
If the Cardinals can win game one of the four-game series, it’ll set the tone for the rest of the weekend. If they lose tonight, it’ll be a crushing blow but they’ll still hang on the first place with a 2.5 lead.
Wrigley is fixing to get extremely loud, a little weird and insanely wild.
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
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