The Cardinals need to win. - A Hunt and Peck

The Cardinals have had a rough go it lately, to put it mildly. They are down 2-0 in the series against the Nationals and will now be in Washington, D.C. for at least the next two games — three of the next five if the series gets to that point, which it hopefully will. Coming back in the series down 3-0 is possible, but pretty difficult. Monday night’s game is about as MUST WIN as non-elimination games go. Per Fangraphs, here are the Cardinals odds to win the NLCS down 2-0 to the Nationals:

For comparison, here is what the NLDS against the Braves looked like:

Side note: Fangraphs — if it is at all possible to make those reds a little less similar, I think it would be a nice improvement to an already wonderful site.

In case it is not apparent enough, in the NLCS graph the Cardinals are the line near the bottom with a 10.8% chance of advancing to the World Series. (The lowest their odds of winning the series became in the NLDS was 23.4%.) If the Cardinals want any realistic shot of winning this series, they must win tonight.

2 to 0 deficit baseball playoff rallies | MLB.com

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