As I caught the end of the Los Angeles Dodgers-Chicago Cubs game Saturday, I started thinking about the significance of the outcome. I always root against the Cubs, but I didn’t really want the Dodgers to win either. So I started doing some research and some 
philosophizing about the Cardinals’ position now and as they trek through the final quarter of the regular season, and I realized they still have quite a bit of work to do.
The Dodgers still have the best record in the National League, and they did beat the Cubs on Saturday. If the playoffs started today, the Colorado Rockies would be the Wild Card team, which means they would play the team with the better record from the Central or East divisions in the NL. As it stands, that is the Philadelphia Phillies…which means the Cardinals would face the Dodgers in the first round.
The Cardinals played exceptional baseball in the Division Series during the 2004-2006 playoff run. But that, as they say, was then. There’s no reason to think the 2009 Cardinals would lay the same egg as the Cubs over the past two years, but there’s no reason to think it couldn’t happen either. The Cardinals took it to the Dodgers during the regular season, but all bets are off once you’re faced with winning three out of five or going home with nothing. And having to start that task on the road would not be ideal.
The Philadelphia Phillies also would have a better record than the Cardinals in this fictional 123
game season, so if they were to beat the Rockies in the Division Series and the Cards dispatched the Dodgers, the Redbirds would once again have to start a series on the road.
A lot is made about home field advantage, and it’s tough to say how much of it is hard truth and how much is psychosomatic. The Cardinals are good enough to win anywhere, but we’re not talking about playing in San Diego or Pittsburgh. All the teams that make the playoffs are obviously good enough to win anywhere, so believing that there’s no way the Dodgers or Phillies or Rockies could come into Busch Stadium and win a game is ludicrous. At the same time, if it comes down to getting that first win in a short series or trying to win a deciding Game 5 or Game 7, you want that game played in your home stadium. So home field advantage may not be a statistical edge, but it does mean something.
Of course, none of it matters until the playoff spot is secured, and the Cards have a ways to go. Right now the Magic Number (the combination of Cardinals wins and Cubs losses that would clinch the division title) is 32 with 37 games left. Those numbers are way too close together. It’s nice to see the Cards seven games up on the Cubs toward the end of August, but that’s not an insurmountable number. And keep in mind that the Cubs are getting a lot of injured guys back soon. It’s not inconceivable for that 
mid-September series at Busch to still have some meaning. Even if the Cubs come to St. Louis seven or eight games back and sweep the Cards, all of a sudden they’re right back in the race.
The rest of September isn’t exactly a cakewalk for the Cardinals, either. Along with the Cubs series, the Cards must face the Florida Marlins, the Atlanta Braves, and the Rockies. That’s four of the top five Wild Card contenders. Keep an eye on the out of town scoreboard over the next couple of weeks. These teams are playing for their playoff lives already.
Put it all together, and it’s easy to see that now is not the time for the Cardinals to relax. They must push the pedal to the floor. The NL Central isn’t exactly up for grabs right now, but it’s far from won. The Cards don’t just need to win games, they need to win series. They need to pull further away from the Cubs and start setting their sights on the best record in the National League. The Cardinals already have a winning identity; now they can work on establishing a dominating identity.
Chris Reed is a freelance writer from Belleville, IL who also blogs on the Cardinals at http://bird-brained.mlblogs.com.