The St. Louis Cardinals entered the final two series of the 2012 regular season with something to play for: the Second Wild Card, which would assure them a one game playoff—the winner of which goes on to play in the NLDS against the playoff team with the best record. But what if the game was still being played under last year’s rules? What would the Cardinals be playing for in these final six games?

A whole lot of nothing, that’s what.

The Atlanta Braves clinched a playoff spot on September 25. The reason it’s only a playoff spot and not the Wild Card is because the Washington Nationals have not yet closed out the National League East Championship. Regardless, without the Second Wild Card, both teams would be in the postseason already no matter how they finish in the regular season standings. Aside from some seeding still to be determined, the playoff brackets would be full and the Cardinals would be on the outside looking in. Ironically, the one thing the Cardinals could do this weekend is help the Braves keep the door open to winning the NL East by beating the Nationals. That’s actually true with or without the Second Wild Card, but this season the Cardinals need the wins. Otherwise they would be relegated to the role of spoiler at best. And after what transpired at the end of the 2011 regular season, what an interesting discussion that would spark.

Imagine the questions that would surround the team without the opportunity in front of them: Was Mike Matheny the right guy for the job? How much can injuries be blamed for the Cards’ shortcomings? Did they need to spend the money on Carlos Beltran? Are they regretting letting Albert Pujols get away? Do you think Tony La Russa and/or Dave Duncan would come back? Should other coaches on the staff be let go? What does John Mozeliak need to do in the offseason to right the ship? When a champion comes back and falls woefully short the next year, these are the types of things people talk about. Some of those questions may get asked of the Cards in the offseason anyway. But the perspective and, consequently, the answers are so different between a playoff year and a non-playoff year.

Even the roster can be drastically affected. Perhaps the Cardinals would have shut down ailing players like Carlos Beltran or Matt Holliday for the season by now. Perhaps Chris Carpenter would not have come back at all, or the Cards would have taken a page from the Stephen Strasburg files and backed Adam Wainwright off in the interest of the long-term. After all, what would be the rationale for pushing these guys after elimination, knowing they are under contract for 2013? There would be none. And we’d probably be seeing even more players from the Cards’ system up with the big club.

Last year, one of the rallying cries was “11 in ‘11,” and the Cardinals did indeed win their 11th World Championship in 2011. It also took 11 wins to get there: three Division Series wins, four National League Championship Series wins, and four World Series wins. Naturally, the fan base turned their attention to longing for “12 in ‘12” before the confetti had even been swept up from the parade through downtown St. Louis last October. The funny thing is, without the need to win a 12th postseason game created by the Second Wild Card, the Cardinals would have no shot to fulfill that longing this season. And that would really trigger some what ifs.

Chris Reed also writes for InsideSTL Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he feels like it. Follow him on Twitter @birdbrained.

August heats up for the Cardinals and everyone currently predicts they will still be in the hunt of things when it does.

If in fact the Cardinals do find themselves deep in the division competition, one of the predicted top of the division foes will be the Milwaukee Brewers. The two teams will surely find some separation this month as they face of eight times in the Midwest heat.

The Cardinals will also find themselves on the road for most of August and facing other division foes like the Cubs and Pirates who, despite their records, seem to do a good job of playing spoiler.

August Breakdown:

Total Games: 28

Home: 13

Road: 15

Vs teams with winning records in 2010: 10

Vs teams with losing records in 2010: 18

Vs teams in the NL Central: 18

Key Series:

August 1-3 at Milwaukee, 9-11 vs Milwaukee, 30-31 at Milwaukee – the Brewers will look to untuck the Cardinals playoff hopes before September arrives while the boys in red will attempt to prove that all the pitching help Milwaukee employed during the off-season will not help them win a pennant.

While the Brewers were the most improved team in the NL Central this off-season, many pundits question whether they did enough. Over the course of these three series in August, we should find out just what the team is made of.

August 22-24 vs Los Angeles – The boys of Dodger Blue come calling near the end of the month and may have a chip on their shoulder to prove as well. A team stuck in the middle of a youth movement and a contender, the Dodgers may or may not find themselves in the thick of things by late summer depending on who you ask. Either way, these two storied franchises will challenge the thermometer to keep up with the play on the field as they light it up for a Summer classic in St. Louis.

Key To a Hot August:

The August schedule is an interesting one. There are teams the Cardinals should, and honestly have to, beat as well as contenders and division foes. It will be a challenge for the Cardinals as the season really heats up. This is the month that lineups and rotations have to prove they are healthy and can compete as their bodies are giving out.

At the end of August:

If the Cardinals have 14+ wins… they are not playing well enough to win this division. With 18 games against teams within the division, the Cardinals have to over-achieve a bit in August.

If the Cardinals are above .500… they have a start towards a playoff run. Honestly, this team does not need to finish above .500 in August, it needs to finish well above .500 in August. Anything less than 18 wins and September will be real interesting.

If the Cardinals are below .500… the season is looking down a barrel of the nastiest kind. If this team is under-achieving to this level and expects the Pujols contract not to be a distraction, everyone is fooled. If the Cardinals want to keep Pujols on the back burner and the season in focus, they cannot lose the month of August.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

August should be a fascinating month in helping determine the future for the Kansas City Royals.

Here’s why: the Royals start out the month with an off day on August 1. Their next off day? Over 20 days later on August 22. Besides those two dates, the Kansas City Royals will be battling through the hottest heat of summer every single day on the field. Mostly, they’ll be visiting other ballparks. But for the 13 games at home, Kauffman Stadium will feel like the middle of the desert. Oh yeah, and they’ll almost exclusively be playing teams with 2010 winning records.

By August, some of the stellar young guys from the team’s stacked farm system, including third base uber-prospect Mike Moustakas, figure to be up on the big-league roster. Their first major test will be to see if they can make it through a taxing month and a brutal schedule.

Mike Moustakas by Erika Lynn

August Breakdown:

Total Games: 29

Home: 13

Road: 16

Vs teams with winning records in 2010: 23

Vs teams with losing records in 2010: 6

Vs teams in the NL Central: 12

Key Series:

August 15-17 vs. Yankees & August 18-21 vs. Red Sox – For seven straight days in mid-August, the Royals host the elite teams of the AL East (in August, the team also plays on the road against the Blue Jays and the Rays, teams that also had winning records in the AL East in 2010). Although it’s likely the Royals will be out of the race by then, the team has had some success playing the role of spoiler in the past several years. If things go as they have in the past, the eyes of the baseball world could be on Kansas City from Aug. 15-21.

August 26-28 at Cleveland – On the other side of the spectrum, the Royals figure to be battling Cleveland in late August to help determine which team stays out of the cellar in the AL Central. The importance of that achievement is mostly artificial, but what is important is that both of these teams, while they’re likely to be miserable in 2011, have important figures in the farm system who could return their respective organizations to their former glory. The Royals are widely acknowledged to have the superior farm system (not only to Cleveland, but to every other team in baseball), but in a way, it’s like a poker game. The Royals are walking to the table with a huge armful of chips, the Indians with only a short stack. But that’s the thing about gambling: Anybody who steps to the table, no matter how much they start with, has a chance to win big.

Key to a hot month – Sadly, the Royals’ best chance at success in August will probably not occur between the baselines. The beginning of August will be the time to assess any trades made at the deadline. If the Royals can flip some of their current players (Melky, Frenchy and Getzy, I’m lookin’ at you) for even more prospects, it could mean a quicker path to future success. However, if they Royals part with any of their prospects now – for any reason whatsoever – it will be a failure.

If the Royals are below .500… Don’t worry about it. In some ways, the worse the Royals’ record is, the better. A poor August will mean we can finally part with some players who have been hanging onto jobs the last few years (Kyle Davies, I’m lookin’ at you), and it could mean increased playing time for some prospects during the September callups.

If the Royals are above .500… Buy some sunscreen, ’cause the end is near.