Cardinals eliminated from playoff contention following Dodgers' victory
SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched baseball's final playoff berth and eliminated the Cardinals from playoff contention on Saturday afternoon, officially bringing St. Louis' playoff hopes to an end after a 1-4 stretch against the Brewers and Cubs over the season's final week. The Dodgers gave themselves a chance to still win the NL West, getting a go-ahead triple from Manny Machado in the eighth inning Saturday and beating the San Francisco Giants 10-6.
The defending NL champions locked up their sixth straight trip to the postseason, assuring at least a spot in the wild-card game. The Dodgers joined Colorado, Atlanta, the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee in the NL playoff field.
Los Angeles began the day one game behind Colorado for the division lead, and the Rockies hosted Washington later in the day. The regular season is scheduled to end Sunday — if Los Angeles and Colorado finish even, there will be a one-game tiebreaker for the West title Monday at Dodger Stadium.
After the Cardinals managed to stay alive with a 2-1 victory over the Cubs on Saturday afternoon, they would have needed the Dodgers to lose their final two games to the Giants while defeating Chicago themselves on Sunday in order to force a play-in game between St. Louis and Los Angeles on Monday. The winner of that game would have won the second National League wild-card spot and advanced to play either the Cubs or the Brewers on Tuesday in the one-game wild-card playoff.
