The NL Wild Card race is as hot as ever.
Over the weekend, the Padres lost their hold on the second Wild Card spot, as the Reds jumped in front.
Cincinnati managed to sweep the Miami Marlins in a four game series while the Padres lost two of three to the Phillies. The Reds will open up a three game set in Milwaukee tonight, with their sights still set on catching the Brewers, despite jumping ahead of San Diego,
“Three huge games,” said Tyler Stephenson. “But if we can go in there and sweep them, that’s going to make things really interesting.”
Meanwhile, the Padres pitching has collapsed in the month of August. It got to the point where on Monday, the team dismissed pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
They missed out on Max Scherzer at the trade deadline, and that has come back to haunt them. Injuries to Chris Paddack and Yu Darvish have derailed their plans.
“With the guys we have injured, this is how it’s gotta be,” said Craig Stammen, who served as the opener in Sunday’s 7-4 loss to Philadelphia. “We’ve gotta figure it out and piece it together. Those guys are coming. Paddack and Darvish are getting healthy, it’s certainly going to put us back in the normal way of doing things. But until then, we’ve just gotta find a way. There’s no excuses.”
San Diego will begin a three game series tonight at home against the red-hot Dodgers. They come into play tonight a game behind Cincinnati for the final spot.
The Cardinals are still alive, but they lost a little ground over the weekend in their series loss to the Pirates. They sit 4.5 games behind Cincinnati for the final spot.
They managed to salvage the final game behind yet another dominant performance by Adam Wainwright.
“Wainwright’s our modern day Gibson,” manager Mike Shildt said, “which is saying something.”
It seems as though every time the Cards need Wainwright to be the stopper and come up big to stop a losing streak, he does just that, and he’s set St. Louis up for a chance to make up some ground this week.
If there was ever a time for St. Louis to make up ground, it would be now. The Tigers are in town for two before the team heads to Pittsburgh for a final time this year. The Reds and Padres both have tough opponents this week in the Dodgers and Brewers, respectively. It would certainly be beneficial if the Cardinals can gain ground before they head to Cincinnati and Milwaukee next week.
The season is winding down, but there’s still a long way to go. Don’t be surprised if we see more fluctuation in this pennant race.
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