Cardinals Playoff Chances: How Can St. Louis Make The 2018 MLB Postseason Over The Dodgers Or Rockies?

Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals are the only team that isn't currently in the 2018 MLB playoff picture but still has a chance to find their way into the postseason. They’ve got work to do over the next three days in their attempt to clinch a wild-card berth.

St. Louis was alive in the NL Central race until they were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this week. Trailing the Chicago Cubs by six games, the Cardinals now have their eyes on the second National League Wild-Card spot. They have a chance to beat out the Colorado Rockies or Los Angeles Dodgers for the final playoff berth, though the odds are against them.

Colorado has a one-game lead over Los Angeles in the NL West. The Dodgers are one game ahead of the Cardinals. A tie between two teams after 162 games will be decided in a 163rd game to be played Monday. If there’s somehow a three-way tie, Los Angeles and Colorado would face off Monday to determine the division winner and the loser of that contest would play in St. Louis Tuesday to determine the wild-card winner.

Chicago or Milwaukee will win the first wild-card spot.

The Cardinals are going need some help in order to even find themselves in a tie. The Rockies’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth is two. The Dodgers have a magic number of three with every team having three games left on the schedule.

St. Louis has the hardest remaining schedule of the three contenders. They’ll have to play a weekend series at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are still trying to clinch the division title since they only have a one-game lead over the Brewers. Milwaukee will host the Detroit Tigers, who have lost 95 games.

Colorado will host the Washington Nationals, who have nothing to play for but do have a winning record. The Rockies have been on fire lately with a seven-game winning streak. Colorado hasn't been defeated since they were swept by L.A. last week.

Los Angeles will play on the road against the San Francisco Giants. San Francisco has 86 losses with just one win in their last seven games.

The Cardinals have missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. They had previously made five straight postseason appearances with four trips to the NLCS during that span.

The Dodgers have won the NL West in five straight seasons. The Rockies were defeated by the Diamondbacks in last year’s wild-card game, and they haven’t played in the NLDS since 2009.