The St. Louis Cardinals haven't been much of a factor in the 2021 season.
They fell far behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central early on. The NL West has mostly dominated wild-card talk. Their trade deadline moves were adding rapidly aging pitchers J.A. Happ and Jon Lester, both of whom cost almost nothing.
All of a sudden, the Cardinals are in the wild-card mix. St. Louis is just 2.5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres for the last wild-card spot, with a doubleheader against the Reds on Wednesday. Tuesday's game was postponed.