Cardinals hit low point with tough loss to Royals in key series

The St. Louis Cardinals lost a tough game on Saturday night against the Kansas City Royals, their cross-state rivals.

After jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, the pitching staff and defense faltered, leading to an 8-3 loss. The team is now 60-58 on the season and two games back in the National League Wild Card race.

On Twitter, Cardinals insider Bernie Miklasz noted that the team had reached a troubling low point.

"Brewers beat Reds tonight. Cardinals are now eight games out of first place in the NL Central. Last time the Redbirds were as far as eight back was May 15," Miklasz wrote. "Also, Cubs are now just 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the division standings."

Not only are the Cardinals slipping in the NL Central standings, but they may even lose their grip on second place in the division. They overcame a 15-24 start to bounce back into contention, only to have a recent cold stretch.

The Cardinals most likely path to the postseason is via a Wild Card, but even at just two games back, they are fifth in the race and have to leapfrog the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, and Atlanta Braves.

There is still time left in the season to make up the ground lost. The Cardinals are not out of the race, but they need to pull themselves together if they want to avoid back-to-back seasons out of the playoffs.

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