It’s getting difficult to remember the last time the St. Louis Cardinals weren’t part of the MLB postseason. The Cards clinched their third straight NL Central title with an 11-1 win over the Pirates on Wednesday, putting them in the playoffs for the fifth year in a row.
With the victory, St. Louis also gets their 100th win of the season, becoming the first team to crack triple digits since the Phillies in 2011. It’s the ninth time in franchise history that the Cardinals have won 1oo games.
Jason Heyward broke the game open with a grand slam off Bobby LaFromboise in the fourth inning, turning a 2-0 lead into a six-run margin. That was plenty of offense for Tyler Lyons, who replaced the injured Carlos Martinez and pitched seven scoreless innings.
Your #STLCards are the 2015 NL Central champions! Watch the clinching out here: http://t.co/v9vSzwuglU #12inSTL pic.twitter.com/j63rnTyiTR
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 1, 2015
The Pirates went into this three-game set with a chance to force a first-place tie in the NL Central, but the Cardinals took two of three and clinched the division. St. Louis also won the season series with Pittsburgh, going 10-9 in those 19 games.
Winning 100 games in a division that yielded two other playoff teams in the Pirates and Cubs makes this NL Central title particularly impressive for the Cardinals. The achievement is even more amazing when you consider how many injuries this team had to deal with. Adam Wainwright, Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, Jordan Walden and Jaime Garcia were each sidelined for a significant number of games during the season. And by the very end, Yadier Molina, Stephen Piscotty and Martinez were knocked out by injuries. Yet St. Louis persevered and continued to excel.
The Cardinals aren’t quite done with their NL Central rivals yet, as they’ll face the winner of next Wednesday’s wild-card playoff between the Pirates and Cubs. St. Louis will have home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.
