There exists an alternate universe where I'm currently writing about last night's NL Wild Card Game between the Cardinals and Diamondbacks. There also exists an alternate universe where I look ahead to the NL Central champion Cardinals and their NLDS matchup against the Nationals.
And then we turn to reality, where St. Louis is deprived of postseason baseball for the second consecutive season.
Needless to say, changes of some capacity will occur this winter. While it appears Mike Matheny will return for 2018 (audible sigh) and the future of the Cardinals roster remains uncertain, it was announced on Tuesday that bullpen coach Blaise Ilsley and pitching coach Derek Lilliquist would not have their contracts renewed.