The MLB welcome wagon, aka the Cincinnati Reds, has left town.
Now the St. Louis Cardinals have to validate their recent streak of wins against MLB's worst team by continuing to win games against better ones, like the New York Mets, who arrive Tuesday night at Busch Stadium to start a three-game series.
By beating Cincinnati seven straight times to highlight a stretch of eight wins in nine games, St. Louis (13-8) jumped into first place in the National League Central by 10 percentage points over Milwaukee. Nine of the Cardinals' next 11 games are against teams sporting winning records.