MILWAUKEE — For the first time since 2019, the Cardinals are the champions of the National League Central.
St. Louis clinched the NL Central with a 6-2 win Tuesday night in Milwaukee over the Brewers.
Technically, the magic number still sits at one game, however, with the Cardinals holding the tiebreaker over Milwaukee and no "game 163s" to be played this season, the Cardinals have claimed the central.
The Cardinals still have eight games left on their schedule before heading to postseason play. After the two-game series in Milwaukee, they'll head home for three games against the Pirates before finishing the year with three more games in Pittsburgh.
With the Cardinals firmly entrenched as the No. 3 seed in the National League, they're poised to host the best-of-three Wild Card Series against either the Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres or Milwaukee Brewers.
That opening series is set to take place at Busch Stadium from Friday, Oct. 7 through Sunday, Oct. 9.
From there, the Cardinals would likely take on the NL East champion, either the Mets or Braves, in the NLDS set to begin on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
This is the 12th time the Cardinals have won the NL Central since the division arrived on the scene in 1994. That's the most of any team in the NL Central.
This will be the eighth time Albert Pujols has appeared in a postseason with the Cardinals in his 12-year career with the team. For Yadier Molina, it will be his 13th time in the playoffs during his 19-year career with the Cardinals. Both players have announced that 2022 will be their final season in the majors.