ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals are the 2019 National League Central Champions.
It took all the way to the last day of the season, but the Cardinals held off the Brewers to win the Central with a 9-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Jack Flaherty took the ball in the must-win final game and continued his second-half dominance. The righty cruised through 7 scoreless innings on just 69 pitches with six strikeouts. He allowed just three baserunners with just a walk and two hits.
The start lowered his season ERA to 2.75. In the second he had an earned run average of 0.91 in 99.1 innings.
At the plate, the Cardinals raced out to an early lead with runs in each of the first four innings. Homers by Dexter Fowler, Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt led to a 9-0 lead at the end of the fourth inning.
The bats on both sides stayed quiet the rest of the way as Giovanny Gallegos and Carlos Martinez finished off the shutout for the Cardinals.
It was a wild ride down the stretch for the Cardinals, who just a week and a half ago were fighting off both the Cubs and the Brewers for the Central crown.
The Cardinals single-handedly took the Cubs out of the Central race last weekend with the first St. Louis four-game sweep at Wrigley Field in 98 years.
The Brewers wouldn't go away down the stretch, going 20-6 coming into Game 162.
This is the first time the Cardinals will play postseason baseball since 2015, when they lost to the Cubs in the NLDS. 2015 was also the last season the Cardinals won the National League Central.
This is NL Central title number 11 for the Cardinals, the most among any team in the division.
The Cardinals will now face the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. The Braves will have home field advantage and host Game 1 of the series on Thursday.
RELATED: Joe Maddon won't manage Cubs in 2020