SAN DIEGO — For the second year in a row, the Cardinals will be playing postseason baseball.
In a pandemic-filled season with a frantic eventual 58-game schedule to finish it off, the Cardinals clinched a playoff berth on the final day of the scheduled season.
Now, they'll look ahead to their first playoff opponent; the San Diego Padres.
Here's what you need to know about when the games are, where you can watch and who is projected to take the mound for the Cardinals.
When and where are the Wild Card round games?
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Major League Baseball is implementing a "bubble" for the playoffs. Players and team staff have already been quarantining the final week of the season in preparation.
The Division Series through the World Series will all be played at neutral sites, with Arlington, Texas and the new home of the Texas Rangers serving as the home of the NLDS, NLCS and World Series should the Cardinals make it that far.
The Wild Card opening round games will be held at the home ballparks of the top four seeded teams in each league.
The Cardinals were the no. 5 seed, so they'll head to San Diego to face the Padres in the best of three series. The Padres will be the home team in every game.
The St. Louis/San Diego Wild Card Series will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. central time. Games 2 and 3 will follow on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 if necessary. The start time for Game 2 will also be 4 p.m. central time, with Game 3 starting late at 9 p.m. central time if necessary.
Times could change for Games 2 and 3 based on the other teams still playing around baseball.
Where can you watch the games?
All of the Cardinals' Wild Card round games will be on the ESPN family of networks.
Games 1 are slated to air on ESPN 2, while Game 3 is slotted for ESPN.
Who is expected to start for the Cardinals?
This short, three-game series could end up coming down to the performance of the starting pitchers, and the Cardinals have reportedly settled on their rotation for the opening round.
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt was on MLB Network on Monday, and revealed that Kwang-Hyun Kim would start Game 1, Adam Wainwright would get the call for Game 2 and Jack Flaherty would be waiting in the wings if a Game 3 is necessary.