Had it not been for Houston's amazing surge over the past couple of weeks, the Cards would have backed into the playoffs. The Mets will likely go to the WS, so it's all academic. But the race in the Central certainly makes for high drama.
Do you realize that over the past nine games there have been at least two times and maybe three when there have been the oposing team has had men on 3rd and 2nd with two outs and the Cards have refused to intentionally pass the batter (in one case the guy had eight hits off that pitcher, six of which were homeruns). So what happens, in each situation count goes to 3-2 and then the final pitch is knocked out of the park. Totally amazing. I'm through with Baseball.