Dodgers’ Puig recovering from staph infection (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
Dodgers’ Ellis undergoes knee surgery (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
Dodgers’ Kemp to have left shoulder surgery (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
Cardinals back in (and back into) playoffs with Dodgers loss
2012
A season ago, the St. Louis Cardinals qualified for the playoffs as the wild card with the help of an epic collapse by the Atlanta Braves. Late on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, the defending World Series champions backed into the postseason tournament, grabbing the final available spot thanks to a loss by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
[Related: Dodgers' playoff chase ends with another stumble]
The Cardinals fell 3-1 to the Reds at Busch Stadium, then waited a few hours for the West Coast results to come in. After Mark Ellis made the final out against Giants closer Sergio Romo, the Dodgers had fallen 4-3 and were eliminated. Ellis also might be remembered infamously for his ill-advised attempt to take third on a double that helped stall a rally in the seventh. Regardless, the Giants surely welcome any opportunity to end Dodgers hopes. And, with nobody else contending, the Cardinals advance to the wild-card game Friday at Atlanta.
Hats off, Redbirds! (Especially you in the photo, Allen Craig and Matt Holliday.) But they weren't going to be partying down at Busch Tuesday night. Manager Mike Matheny said the Cards needed their beauty sleep:
"I'm sending them home," Matheny said. "They need to get some rest.
"We've got a game to win tomorrow and we have a trip to make one way or another, so we're sending them out."
He's kind of a drip. But hey, all that matters now is getting in, as the 2011 club showed in winning the franchise's 11th championship. Style points and aesthetics don't count for much. Still, it's always better to have a clinching party with booze and non-alcoholic brews for the kids and vulnerable. It's kind of anticlimactic otherwise, which is why we're going to replay the Cardinals wild-card clinch party from a season ago, Sept. 29, 2011:
The situation was similar in 2011, only the Cardinals won their game and didn't have to wait too long for the Braves results. And they got to wear goggles and drink and Gerald Laird was there. This just isn't quite the same. And neither is the postseason format. They only get one game to prove, again, they belong. So maybe a muted, scattered celebration is best. Hopefully they all have a phone tree so the players can call each other in bed to relay the good news, because they're not out at bars or anything I'm sure.
Love baseball? Ready for the postseason?
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Cardinals fans seem happy that Albert Pujols won’t be appearing in the playoffs
2012
With one more victory or a Los Angeles Dodgers loss, the St. Louis Cardinals will clinch their second trip to the postseason in as many years. Now, is there a chance their journey might only last one day with a loss to the Atlanta Braves in Friday's wild-card play-in game spelling doom for the defending World Series champions? Yes. Yes there is.
But at least the Cardinals are probably going to reach that one-game chance, which is more than you can say for their old pal Albert Pujols. (Don't Call Me) El Hombre and his Los Angeles Angels were eliminated from postseason contention when Oakland sealed its win over Texas on Monday, ensuring that Pujols will have extra time this fall to spend the $240 million that lured him to Disneyland last offseason.
As you might imagine, this fact is playing pretty well in Peoria:
Regardless of what happens the next few days, St. Louis fans have to feel a little bit vindicated for not completely losing it when Pujols flew the Cardinals coop for richer pastures. Though there were plenty of sayonaras like the one above, the fan base's party line was that the franchise was strong enough to survive the departure and they've been more or less proven right. That's not to say the 2012 St. Louis Cardinals would not have been a better team with Pujols around, just that they were able to withstand the (correct) decision not to commit so much money to an aging superstar reasonably well.
Now excuse a few of their fans while they gloat about it a bit ...
Are you ready for the postseason?
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A guide to the AL playoff possibilities
2012
Heading into the season's last three games, the National League is relatively a drama-free zone. The Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants have already clinched their divisions and the Atlanta Braves are a long shot to force an NL East tiebreaker with the Washington Nationals. The St. Louis Cardinals, meanwhile, own a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers for the last wild-card spot.
There's potential for craziness on the Senior Circuit, sure, but not as much as exists in the American League. Heading into Monday's contests, eight teams are still jockeying for position with only the Orioles, Yankees and Rangers definitely in the playoffs (though none of the three have clinched a division title just yet).
Here's a handy-dandy guide to the possible scenarios that could unfold in the American League the next few days.
Detroit Tigers
• Clinch the AL Central with a win or Chicago loss.
Chicago White Sox
• Clinch the AL Central with a sweep of Cleveland and a Kansas City sweep of Detroit, plus a win over the Tigers in Thursday's tiebreaker.
Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees
• Clinch the AL East with any combination of four victories and losses by the other contender. The Orioles finish the season with three games at Tampa Bay while the Yankees host the Red Sox for three. Both teams are tied atop the AL East.
Texas Rangers
• Clinch AL West with one win against Oakland.
Oakland A's
• Clinch a playoff berth with one win over Texas or a loss from both Tampa Bay and Los Angeles
• Clinch AL West with a sweep of Texas
Los Angeles Angels
• Clinch a wild-card spot with sweep of Seattle and a Texas sweep of Oakland, plus a win over the A's in a tiebreaker on Thursday (which Oakland would host).*
Tampa Bay Rays
• Clinch a wild-card spot with sweep of Baltimore and Texas sweep of Oakland, plus a win over the A's in a tiebreaker on Thursday (which Oakland would host).
*Things will really get nuts if the Rangers, Angels and Rays all somehow sweep because it would cause a three-way tie between the A's, Angels and Rays at 91-71. In that scenario, Oakland gets a choice between two options because it won its season series against both Los Angeles and Tampa Bay:
1. It can play at home Thursday against the Angels with the Rays showing up to play the winner on Friday
2. It can rest on Thursday and travel to play the winner of L.A.-Tampa Bay on Friday.
Since the Rays won the season series against the Angels, they could also elect to play Oakland on Thursday with the hope of hosting Los Angeles at Tropicana Field on Friday. (Why any team would want to play two do-or-die games instead of one in exchange for something as negligible as home-field advantage remains one of the universe's largest mysteries.)
Confused yet? This A's-Angels-Rays tie is the most convoluted long shot of a scenario ... which probably means it will definitely end up happening.
Get ready for the postseason.
Follow @bigleaguestew, @KevinKaduk and the BLS Facebook page!
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Kemp’s 2 HRs push Dodgers within 2 of NL wild card (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers' faint playoff hopes are still flickering, and Matt Kemp does not want to see them extinguished if he can help it.
Dodgers beat Rockies 8-0 behind Kershaw’s 10 Ks (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Clayton Kershaw's hip felt just fine and his pitching was solid too, keeping the Los Angeles Dodgers' postseason hopes alive.
APNewsBreak: Ex-Dodger owner back in divorce court (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The ex-wife of former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt wants to set aside the couple's divorce settlement, claiming he vastly understated the value of a team that sold earlier this year for $2 billion, the highest figure ever paid for a pro sports franchise.
Dodgers-Padres Preview (Yahoo! Sports)
2012
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