Cardinals Lead for Second Wild Card – Remember 2011?

Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals find themselves in the second National League wild card slot, a game ahead of the San Diego Padres who, as fate would have it, open a three-game series at Busch Stadium Friday night.

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The Cardinals completed a sweep of the Mets Wednesday, with Jon Lester, one of the Redbirds' trade deadline acquisitions, taking the win and offensive mainstays Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt leading way at the plate.

With the Cardinals making up 7 1/2 games in the standings since the end of July, comparisons with the Cardinals' most successful wildcard run - that would be 2011 - are inevitable.

You remember that ball club - given up for dead the end of August, caught fire in September and that, coupled with the Atlanta Braves' collapse, put the Cardinals in the wild card the last day of the season.

They won series they weren't supposed to win against the Phillies and Brewers, then gave baseball fans - not just Cardinal fans, the World Series of a lifetime, knocking off the Texas Rangers in seven games.

It was game six of the 2011 World Series that made David Freese a star...

Then came game seven - "What a team ... what a ride."

Repeat performance in 2021? Stay tuned.