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The St. Louis Cardinals are a scrappy team. Despite going just 3-7 over their last 10 games, the Cardinals earned the respect of Brewers manager Pat Murphy when St. Louis won back-to-back games against Milwaukee.
Even with the wins against their division rivals, the Cardinals are a game under .500 and 10 games behind the first-place Brewers in the NL Central. Still, St. Louis pitcher Miles Mikolas is confident that the team can make the playoffs, according to MLB.com’s John Denton. The nine-year veteran is so confident that he believes the Cardinals can win 17 in a row if necessary.
“I’d rather not wait until we need to win 17 in a row, but I think with the pitchers in this rotation and the young guys stepping up, I think it’s very possible for us to go on a good run here … Whether that’s 17 in a row, or 10, or five in a row, lose a game and win five more. This is a team capable of catching fire and being dangerous down the stretch,” Mikolas proclaimed, per Denton.
Part of the two-time All-Star’s confidence comes from the fact that he was a member of a Cardinals team that actually managed to win 17 games in a row. In the 2021 season St. Louis won 17 consecutive games from September 11-30 and ended up making the postseason. The Cardinals lost in the Wild Card round to the Los Angeles Dodgers that year but they made the playoffs in very impressive fashion.
Miles Mikolas believes the Cardinals can make the playoffs
This year’s Cardinals team would need to pull off a similarly stunning feat to reach the postseason. St. Louis is five games back in the National League Wild Card race and would need to leapfrog three teams to land the final postseason berth.
The question is, do the Cardinals have the talent to go on a run? And, if they manage to qualify for the playoffs, is the team capable of making any noise?
Cardinals fans don’t seem to think their team is going anywhere this season. The organization set an all-time low attendance record in the opening game of their three-game series against the Brewers.
The Cardinals won the series 2-1 and Mikolas was outstanding in his start Thursday. The 35-year-old veteran righty went six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out three batters. The Cardinals’ bullpen was equally up to the task, silencing Milwaukee’s bats until Reliever of the Year candidate Ryan Helsley locked down the win with his MLB-best 39th save.
St. Louis has built a bit of momentum. The Cardinals won in spectacular fashion Wednesday when Nolan Arenado ended things with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning. Then on Thursday Mikolas set the tone for a dominant shutout victory.
It still seems unlikely the Cardinals make the playoffs in 2024. But the team hasn’t given up. Not when they’re only 17-straight wins away from postseason glory.
