The working date for the start of the Cardinals’ stunning, late-season comeback is Sept. 8, when they were 69-68 but then won the final two games of a four-game series here from Los Angeles. They lost on Sept. 10 to Cincinnati and then reeled off 17 wins in succession to snatch the second wild-card spot and earn a one-game wild-card matchup with the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
But you actually could go back to June 17. That was the date the Cardinals signed 36-year-old lefthander Wade LeBlanc, who had been released from his minor league contract with the Texas Rangers.