The St. Louis Cardinals are advancing to the National League Championship Series for the fourth consecutive year after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Tuesday night to clinch the division series.
This will be the Cardinals' fourth consecutive trip to the National League Championship Series. The Cardinals have shown over the past few seasons why they have had as much success in the postseason as anybody in baseball. The Cardinals have exhibited an important trait that any team must show and prove in the postseason.
To believe in yourself is the most important trait any successful team can have and demonstrate. This is a team that does not hit the panic button at any given point in any ballgame.
This series alone is a major example of how the Cardinals simply do not panic. Take Tuesday night's Game 4 for example. The Cardinals were trailing the Dodgers 2-0 in the seventh with Clayton Kershaw on the mound in what was a one hit shutout at the time. The Cardinals had singles by Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta in the seventh inning. Matt Adams came to the plate and would proceed to hit would turned out to be a game winning three-run home run to put St. Louis ahead for good.
The Cardinals exhibited the same grit against Kershaw in Game 1 when they stormed back from a 6-1 deficit by scoring eight runs in the seventh inning to win 10-9 with Matt Carpenter spearheading an epic comeback against Kershaw and the Dodgers.
Behind the epic comeback are several important keys that the Cardinals put on display this series which served as a microcosm into why they have had so much success in October the past few seasons.
The first reason is having a strong consistent bullpen.
This entire series we have witnessed the Dodgers bullpen struggle mightily having blown leads in Game 1,2, and 3. The Cardinals bullpen was intrumental to the success of the team in this series as it has been in the past four postseasons overall. Trevor Rosenthal recorded all three saves in the three Cardinals victories this series.
The second reason is that they don't beat themselves.
The Cardinals are as good, if not better than any other team in Major League Baseball in executing the routine plays and playing fundamentally sound baseball. The Cardinals run the bases well, pitch well, hit consistently, and play fundamentally sound defense. When you are able to perform at a high level in all four facets of the game in the regular season and especially in October, you have a pretty solid ballclub.
The third reason is the strong and steady leadership in the Cardinals clubhouse.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had some pretty huge shoes to fill when he took over the Manager's job following Tony La Russa's retirement after the 2011 World Series. Matheny has done a remarkable job of consistently leading the Cardinals to success on the field. It certainly helps when you have the best catcher in baseball in Yadier Molina who has demonstrated his ability to command a pitching staff and as well as his clubhouse leadership has help earn the respect of his teammates as well as the organization.
The Cardinals have shown time and time again how to have success in October. Four consecutive appearances in the NLCS should make one examine the success of the Cardinals and how they get it done consistently year after year. The St. Louis Cardinals are the model organization for how to consistently to perform and win in October.