CHICAGO -- Saturday's 8-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs was the St. Louis Cardinals' 15th consecutive win.
Manager Mike Shildt stated, "It's difficult to do something within this organization that has never been done." It speaks to the team aspect, which is what I love about it.
The streak of 15 consecutive wins is tied for fourth in MLB history. St. Louis will be tied with the 1977 Kansas City Royals in the third-longest win streak if it wins against the Cubs Sunday. The 2017 Cleveland Indians won 22 consecutive games, while the 2002 Oakland Athletics won twenty.
T.J. McFarland, a reliever, said that it was an "incredible feeling". "The total elation of knowing that every time we go to the field, we are going to win."
The Cardinals trailed 4-2 at the end of the seventh, but they scored three runs in the seventh and three more to win the ninth. The Cubs scored the winning run in the eighth inning with a unique 3-2-5-4-2-8-6 Double Play. They had the tie-breaking run at third base and then ran out of time.
Tyler O'Neill, outfielder, scored his 11th home run for the month. Harrison Bader was 4-for-4 and had hits in six of his previous plate appearances. This was the fifth win by the team from behind during the streak.
Jon Lester, Saturday's starter, stated that "not only has no Cardinals team done this, but there haven't been many (of such length)." It is insane to have a 10-game winning streak in the major leagues. In 15 years, I have only been part of a few of them. It is mind-blowing for me to have been to 15 games.
While the team may be excited about the streak, many players are more interested in the next phase. Bader was asked to share his thoughts.
He replied, "To be completely honest, my perspective on the game tomorrow is what time it is." It feels great, but there are bigger things we need to be focused on. We will take this energy as deep and as long as we can."
McFarland agreed.
He said, "We are not going to sit back with our feet on the brakes."
When September began, St. Louis was not in the National League playoff picture. The Cardinals have become one of the most important stories in baseball, and are now close to ending the wild card race via this streak. They are in the NL's second wild card slot and look set for a playoff game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, or San Francisco Giants.
