Happy Birthday Kolten Wong and a happy day indeed for anyone not connected emotionally or otherwise to the Atlanta Braves or the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is vindication day for those of us who are so glad that the St. Louis Cardinals finally have a manager who realized that Wong was the best choice available to play second base. He was always the best option defensively and now, playing regularly, he has become a potent offensive weapon as well. I found the Cardinals-Braves series particularly enjoyable because I could root for both teams. We had the fiery and tough seasoned veteran Yadier Molina, the stalwart steady veteran pitcher Adam Wainwright and the all around superb first baseman Paul Goldschmidt for St. Louis versus the talented young men like Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna,Mike Foltynewicz and Mike Soroka for the Braves with veteran stars like Freddie Freeman and Brian McCann. Despite the lopsided final game, the series made for some great theater.

Of course, all of the well paid pundits had the winner of that series pegged to be sacrificial lambs as the Los Angeles Dodgers launch angled their way to the World Series that they finally would win. Oops. The teams that made what were considered the most important winter free agent acquisitions, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado finished fourth (Phillies) and fifth (Padres). Those two can probably be highly paid big fish in winless ponds for a while, but looky here! The Nationals versus Cardinals will play to advance to the World Series in another match that enables me to root for both teams. Anthony Rendon has been the best Washington has had for a good while now and it’s good to see him on the big stage. Max Scherzer, like Wainwright and Justin Verlander, is the kind of gutsy, tough, shrewd hurler we won’t be seeing much of if things in baseball stay the way they are now. And special congratulations to Trea Turner, Howie Kendrick,and Adam Eaton, gamers who have what it takes to win.

Today we will see if the Houston Astros or the Tampa Bay Rays qualify for the chance to knock off the Yankees. There will be many fun moments ahead.