The St. Louis Cardinals finally separated themselves from the Milwaukee Brewers in early August after chasing them for much of the season.
They haven't looked back since, turning what had been a nip-and-tuck NL Central race into something of a runaway.
MVP contender Paul Goldschmidt went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs as the Cardinals clinched the division title Tuesday night by beating the Brewers 6-2 behind six strong innings from Miles Mikolas.
"With the guys that we have and the veteran leadership, we knew that as soon as we smelled some blood right there and we took that lead, we knew we could run away with it," Mikolas said.
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Andrew Knizner hit a two-run homer to break out of an 0-for-22 slump as St. Louis sealed its first division crown since 2019 and fourth straight playoff berth by defeating the team that won last year’s NL Central championship. This marks the third straight year the Cardinals have wrapped up a postseason spot with a victory over the Brewers.
The Cardinals (90-65) guaranteed themselves at least a tie with second-place Milwaukee (82-72), and now they own the tiebreaker because the victory Tuesday gave St. Louis an insurmountable 10-8 lead in the season series.
St. Louis held a rather low-key celebration on the Brewers' home field after the final out, reacting not much differently than if they'd just won an ordinary game at midseason. The party didn't start until the Cardinals got into the locker room and started popping champagne.
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"This is just one step, guys," Albert Pujols told his teammates at the start of the celebration. "Just remember this moment. This is what we want to do deep in October and hopefully win the championship and bring it to the city of St. Louis."
The Brewers remain 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia for the final NL wild card. The Phillies won the season series with Milwaukee and would get the playoff bid if the teams end up tied.
St. Louis trailed Milwaukee in the NL Central standings for much of the season and was four games back on the morning of July 31. The Cardinals are 37-17 and the Brewers 25-28 since.
"We just didn’t really play well enough all season to deserve winning the division," Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich said. "You get what you deserve in sports a lot and we just, for whatever reason, weren’t able to put it all together. Not saying we don’t still have a shot. We still have a shot at a wild card."
