The Surge: Anarchy

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images As you may have heard, the St. Louis Cardinals have seized control of their own playoff destiny with their longest winning streak since Bud Smith roamed the earth. The development has been stunning. After losing to the Dodgers on September 7th, their fourth consecutive loss, their playoff odds on FanGraphs were at 2.8%. Fourteen games later, before Thursday’s game against the Brewers, those odds were all the way up to 94.5%, higher today after winning that game. Given the way they’ve reanimated the corpse of their 2021 season, perhaps I should have chosen Frankenstein as my horror movie pun du jour for that headline rather than the Purge franchise. Obviously, the last few weeks have been the true surge, but the turnaround goes back to the All-Star break. Even before their 14-of-15 wins since September 7th, they were a respectable 25-22 in the second half. With the surge, they’re up to 39-23 in the second half after Thursday’s wild comeback in Milwaukee. What changed for them in the second half?

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