St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith. (Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports)
The St.Louis Cardinals almost avoided a heartbreaker last night in Los Angeles.
Chris Taylor’s walk off homerun for the Los Angeles Dodgers ended the St. Louis Cardinals‘ season on a 3-1 note. It took every second of nine whole innings for St. Louis to give up its tight grip on a shot at the next round against the San Francisco Giants, but the game slipped out of their hands at the very last moment.
It’s safe to say the NL Wild Card game was painfully intense. Ups and downs for both teams strapped everyone into an emotional rollercoaster that was wild right up until the last play. It was almost everything Cardinals fans could hope for in a postseason game. Except for the ending.
An ending which was just feet away from looking a whole lot different.
In an image shared on Twitter by The Baseball Newsletter captured a still of a foul ball hit off of Kenley Jansen that dropped just feet away from the stands at the top of the ninth inning.
This St. Louis Cardinals foul ball was so close to changing the NL Wild Card game
Had the wind or fate pushed that ball slightly to the right and out of reach, the Cardinals would have taken a lead of their own and potentially reversed their heartbreaking outcome.
Instead, the underdogs exited the playoffs as quickly as they entered. The single elimination game really came down to single pitch game, and unfortunately for St. Louis, this pitch at the top of the ninth just wasn’t that game changer.
In a tight game where every single play was filled with tension and opportunity, this close call is going to sting the Cardinals for awhile.