WILD-CARD PREVIEWS

ROAD TO THE WILD CARD: The Braves were locked into place with a stranglehold on the first wildcard spot for most of September. MGR Fredi Gonzalez’s squad was seldom talked about because they also were no real threat to the first-place Nats, so they were able to focus on the 3B Chipper Jones Farewell Tour which turned out very well. The Cards are the defending World Series champs, but while last season’s 2011 run to the post-season was dramatic, this year was simply a matter of holding off pretenders like the Dodgers, Brewers and Phillies while trying to put on a late surge of their own. MGR Mike Matheny did a great job filling in for future Hall-of-Famer Tony La Russa.

STARTERS: Kyle Lohse emerged as the Cards’ starting ace over Adam Wainwright and the recov-- ering Chris Carpenter. Lohse won eight straight decisions between June 22 and Sept. 7, but without ever being spectacular. Lohse has a 55-35 record in five seasons with the Cards and reached 200+ innings for the first time since ’08. Kris Medlen, meanwhile, was brought along slowly, starting the season in the bullpen, recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Braves have incredibly won 23 straight Medlen starts, moving ahead of Carl Hubbell and Whitey Ford for the MLB record. EDGE: Braves

BULLPEN: The Braves are set with their bullpen ace RH Craig Kimbrel accomplishing the phenomenal feat of striking out more than half the 231 batters he faced. The hard-throwing closer fanned 116 in 622⁄ innings, with a 1.01 ERA. He’s backed by LH Jonny Venters and LH Eric O’Flaherty. The Cards rely on RH Jason Motte in the ninth inning. He has 42 saves and more Ks than innings, but he allowed nine homers in 72 innings. LH Marc Rzepczynski helps out. EDGE: Braves

LINEUP: The Cards miss Albert Pujols, but replaced him with

offensive balance with five players with 20-plus homers, led by RF Carlos Beltran, LF Matt Holliday,

last year’s World Series hero 3B David Freese, new 1B Allen Craig

and all-star C Yadier Molina. The Braves’ offence sputtered down the stretch as CF Michael Bourn,

2B Dan Uggla and C Brian McCann struggled to regain their normal production. Their team MVP may be LF Martin Prado. EDGE: Cardinals

INTANGIBLES: The Braves have the inspiration of winning for Chipper and the confidence of 23 straight victories with Medlen on the hill. The Cards do not have last season’s momentum going into this year’s playoffs and are on the road with a manager in his first post-season in charge.

EDGE: Braves PICK TO WIN: Braves