The St. Louis Cardinals eliminated the San Francisco Giants from postseason contention in Tuesday night’s contest. Just 24 hours later, the Giants returned the favor.

The Cardinals were a longshot to make the playoffs, needing complete collapses from the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks, all three of which lost on Wednesday.

For the Cardinals to have been in a position to enter the final series of the year in mathematically alive for a wild card spot has the team ahead of its perceived schedule. The team was content with evaluating its pieces this season so that incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom would be able to make changes where they are needed in the offseason. The team showed fight and grit, which is about as much as one could ask of them in a season of low expectations.

The Cardinals battled back tying the game late before a rare defensive miscue from Victor Scott II allowed the Giants to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth. The Cardinals would attempt to start a rally in the top of the ninth to save their season but would be met with a double play that set the scene for one of the most confusing decisions of the season.

The Cardinals would pinch hit José Fermín for Scott, the latter of whom has been a below average hitter for the Cardinals this season. That was not the confusing piece of the story. It was what would happen next. Fermín, with two outs in the top of the ninth and their postseason hopes on the line, would attempt to bunt for a hit. He was promptly thrown out at first base and the game would end with the Cardinals eliminated from postseason contention.

While Scott may have been the riskier option to swing away than Fermín, he is the fastest player on the team and one of the fastest in the entire league. One is left to wonder if the Cardinals let Scott attempt the bunt or allowed Fermín to swing away with Brendan Donovan waiting on deck, would they be playing for a postseason birth at Wrigley Field over the weekend?

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