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“Listen, this isn’t just a loss. This is an identity crisis for the St. Louis Cardinals. You call them ‘The Brand,’ the defending World Champions, and they come into Cincinnati and get embarrassed, 15-3. The Reds didn’t just beat them—they outclassed them in every conceivable way. Hitting, pitching, execution—you name it.
Look at the numbers. Juan Castaneda, .625 average, 3 homers, 7 RBIs, 4 runs scored. This guy is a one-man wrecking crew. Jon Dunham adds a homer, 4 RBIs, and you start to see a pattern here: Cincinnati is built for October, St. Louis is built for headlines.
And the Cardinals? They looked like a team playing catch-up. Seven runs allowed in three innings from Solis. You can’t survive in the postseason when your starter goes three and seven. Three errors on the day, two on offense with no answer at the plate. This was a humiliation.
Here’s the truth: the Reds are proving something that I’ve been saying for years—success in the regular season doesn’t equal playoff dominance. The Cardinals have the brand, the reputation, the banners. But right now, in October, the brand means nothing. This Reds team is young, aggressive, and they are not intimidated. They’re moving on to face the Giants, and St. Louis? They’re left wondering where it all went wrong.
The lesson here is simple: in the playoffs, execution beats reputation. The Reds executed. The Cardinals? They got exposed. And that, my friends, is why October baseball is different than anything else. This isn’t a storybook; this is reality.”
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