The Chris Moeller Archives

The Cardinals trailed the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card race by 10.5 games back on August 25th. Tonight, the players will tuck themselves into their little beds in a dead tie. In tonight's game, they battled back from a 5-0 deficit against Houston to win 13-6. There was a dash of magic mixed in too. Behind by one run, they got an inning and a third perfect innings out of a rookie pitcher, Eduardo Sanchez, he of the filthy slider, who due to injury, last pitched for the team on June 12th, and last pitched even as a minor leaguer in August.

The Cards may not have much gas left in the tank-- the bullpen has been worn down to a nub-- but they have pulled even for the National League's final playoff slot after 161 games. Both the Braves and Cardinals play their final regular-season games tomorrow night-- Atlanta at home against the playoff-bound Phillies, the Cardinals, with their ace Chris Carpenter pitching, in Houston against the Astros. Do yourself a favor and seek out this Cardinals game on television, radio, or the internet. You're going to witness a remarkable human energy-- and maybe a thrilling conclusion to a comeback story of epic proportions. In a sense, they're not really playing for the playoffs though. They've already been in the playoffs for better than a month.