Their closer just vomited all over himself in the 9th inning. That was a remarkable effort I tell you.

There was a lead off double followed by two quick outs. Then he walked the tying and winning runs, and after two singles he had given up four runs. That was worse than watching Feliz and Oliver honestly. The Nationals pen choked when it counted most. Least Texas isn't the only team the fucking Cards did it to.

Just goes to further show that that there is no statistical advantage to having the best record in baseball once the playoffs start.

It's pretty sickening to see the Cards get to celebrate anything. Good job "Natinals."

All I can say is fuck. Sorry those guys in DC got bit by the big-ass jagged toothed...er.., beaked bastards from St. Louis. Rangers and Rangers fans can relate.

Nothing could be as bad as watching Nefti and Oliver, that was true heartbreak.

I'm a Rangers fan and a Nationals fan. The last two years have made me want to give up on baseball.

Oh and another thing, if there is ever a reason to go back to no playoffs at all and play the (2) best teams in baseball in the World Series, this year is it. That would mercifully keep teams like St. Louis out of post season.

Maybe it's time to give the Cardinals some credit...and lighten up on our boys for "choking it away." Hell, the Nationals had the massive advantage of home field. Feliz, Oliver, Cruz, etc. didn't have that.

The only ones "vomiting over themselves" are posters who can't get accept the nature of the sport even a full year later, and refuse to tip the hat to the opponent.

Stop hating on our players and grow up.

I hate the Cardinals now. I hated them last year, and I hate them now. They're a good team, I give them that. But there were at least 10 good teams this year, and none of them has been as lucky as the Cardinals. Fucking everything goes their way. If they were as lucky during the regular season as they are in the playoffs, they'd have won more than 100 games. They are the luckiest sons of bitches in years.

If the WS is Cards v. Yankees, I'm going for the Yankees. But I have a bad feeling the Cardinals will go the distance. They just. won't. go. away.

I was watching that game last night and when Freese came up in the 9th (again) I remember thinking, when they had 2 strikes on him with 2 outs, "be careful, this guy is not done yet." Sure enough, he got a walk and the wheels proceeded to fall of for the Nationals.

It's thier own damn fault. Stasburg could just as easily go and blow his arm out the first two weeks of next season - whether or not he was shut down this season.

So - will the Redskins shut down RGIII if they make the playoffs this season - to lessen his risk of hits to the head? I think that would be smart - he is a precious commodity, and it's only the playoffs.

Don't project onto people, Profar. No one is hating anyone but the Cardinals. Texas blew it last year. The Nats blew it this year. Letting teams like the Cards hang around is dangerous. Put em away or they will hurt you. Telling the truth doesn't mean you are ragging on players. The nature of the sport is that some teams get hot at the right time. We accept that, but it still pisses us off that it went against our favor 3 years in a row.

When the Yankees were consistently the best team in the majors during the regular season and would get beat by the likes of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins the unfairness of the regular season / post-season scenario never bothered me much.

But now, with my own team involved the issue has become more concrete. Honestly, I wish they would go to some modified version of Euro football (soccer). In the English Premier League the regular season champion is the champion......the test of the overall season is the primary test.

But they also have numerous "Cup" competitions that are single-elimination or round-robin or group play scenarios.

I think this is the best of both worlds. The regular season champion is a test of who's best over the duration. While the Cup competitions provide the type of instant drama that American-style playoffs provide.

With 10 teams now making major league post-season play, there's almost no value in being the best team over 162 games. It's more important to be playing well as you go into the post-season. And, more than anything, you need to be lucky.

I don't think who is "lucky" is necessarily the best way to crown a champion.

I'm with Profar on this one. I'll go back to the bottom of the 9th with a two-run lead and two outs in St. Louis last year: It's been chronicled the odds of Freese hitting a 99mph fastball from where it was located resulting in the position it finished at -- slim. To that end, through the heartbreak, I have to give credit where it's due; he had no business hitting that Neftali Feliz fastball so far.

Seeing them do it again doesn't really surprise me, because there's something beyond true talent level with the Cardinals. They have this innate will not to lose. I'm not going to root for them to win, but I have no issue saying they've earned this, outweighing the notion that the Rangers and Nationals simply "blew it".

of course david freese should have been called out on strikes but umpires love adding drama and being part of the story

@Wings - Oh, you must be talking about those pitches that were clearly shown to be out of the zone. Had those been called strikes against the Rangers, I could guarantee that you'd be on here having started some thread whining about the calls.

they were clearly strikes. people need to stop citing pitchfx/gameday. that system is rarely accurate

Tell me more about the great angle you had.

they were clearly strikes. people need to stop citing pitchfx/gameday. that system is rarely accurate

Clear according to the pitch track, PitchFX/gameday, or your perception of what a strike and ball is? Clear is only as clear as the umpire calling balls and strikes, and it's unfair to create a false reality based on your outlook of a baseball game.

They weren't called strikes, so David Freese handled the business he needed to handle.

Fans rarely make any mention of the strike zone unless it pertains unfavorably to the team they are rooting for. Every questionable call (whether we're hitting or pitching) is innately the umpire's fault for not being fair to both teams. You never see anyone say criticizing the ump if the calls go in our favor.

I may get flamed but if its any consolation, as a Cardinal fan my whole life, I almost have survivor's guilt over last year and now this. If the go all the way, cool, first NL team to repeat since the Big Red machine, and then we'll proabably stink for 20 years.

Of course, Oscar Taveras, Shelby Miller, Kolton Wong, Trevor Rosenthal....

You know what. Nevermind.

there's nothing like those mediocre wild card teams making it into an awful playoff system.

also, you should suck off the home plate umpire from last year's game 7

there's nothing like those mediocre wild card teams making it into an awful playoff system.

also, you should suck off the home plate umpire from last year's game 7

You are pathetic.

@WilliBallGame

The Cardinals have given a lifetime worth of memories to their fans over the last two years, and your boys seem to be in good hands for years to come. I do appreciate to hear that perspective, even if it brings hate from others on this board. I myself hate losing, always have always will, but I can dig some great baseball, and events like last night are always bitchin' to watch unfold.

In the original post I said:
"Least Texas isn't the only team the fucking Cards did it to."

I acknowledged the Cards had a big hand in the events that transpired. That still doesn't mean the Ranger and Nats didn't blow it. They left the door slightly cracked, and the Cards blasted right through the door both times. It sure does stink to be on the bad end of that sorta thing, but it happens.

Oh and another thing, if there is ever a reason to go back to no playoffs at all and play the (2) best teams in baseball in the World Series, this year is it. That would mercifully keep teams like St. Louis out of post season.

Yeah, but that would stiffle some fan interest in almost every market near the end of the season. I think thats mainly the reason that they try to make the playoffs as big as they can.

On the other hand, if they did things like they use to, and have the 2 best teams with no interleague play during the season, it WOULD be alot more fair, and it would make the world series alot more interesting.

On the Freese strikes, I don't remember thinking they were bad calls (just pissed that Storen was throwing balls), but something I have noticed on TBS over the last two years worth of LDS, is that TBS' pitch f/x is either not working correctly or the home plate umpires in those series have been truly atrocious. Never during the regular season, or in the playoffs on Fox have I seen so many balls clearly outside of the strike zone on the pitch f/x get called strikes and balls clearly in the strike zone on pitch f/x called balls.

Again, I'm not arguing the call from last night, and it's not even comparing what I think the pitch was with what the ump called, but noting instead during the LDS on TBS there are an unusually high number of occasions on which the ump calls the opposite of what TBS' pitch f/x says. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm inclined to think that if the umps were that obviously bad there'd be more complaining, more ejections, and more action from MLB. I just don't get how the pitch f/x can be that far off only on TBS.

Just when I think it can't... baseball pisses me off even more. What's even more of a joke than the Cards getting into the NLCS is the freaking Tigers getting into the ALCS. Worse regular season record than two teams (Angels and Rays) from the AL that DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE POSTSEASON. And on top of that they got to play their first two LDS games at home. Those are the true lucky sons of bitches. Even more so than the Cards.