On the 18th day, the Cardinals rested.
They earned it.
A gantlet of 17 games in 17 days – with one sort-of off day dropped in due to a rain-delayed rescheduling that produced a double-header the next day — planted Mike Shildt’s club in first place in the National League Central with a two-game lead over the second-place Brewers.
Since the first game of a home sweep against the Reds on April 23, when Shildt suggested his team was ready to roll through its 17-game blitz between scheduled off days, the Cardinals went 13-4 with three series sweeps and no series losses.