Phillies-cardinals series a replay of 2011 matchup

ST. LOUIS >> More than a decade ago, the talented triumvirate of Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright helped power the St. Louis Cardinals past the Philadelphia Phillies in the divisional round of the playoffs, and ultimately to a World Series title.

A lot has happened since, and not a lot of it good around Philadelphia, where the Phillies have had more losing seasons than winning ones and secured a wild-card spot earlier this week for their first return to the postseason.

The two clubs will meet again, 11 years after their last thrilling playoff showdown, set to play a best-of-three National League wild-card series at Busch Stadium. And wouldn’t you know it? Pujols, Molina and Wainwright are still around, and each could have a starring role when the series begins this afternoon.

“I’ve thought about it a lot, right? It literally became like a fork in the road — one went right, one went left,” John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, said Thursday in recalling the decisive Game 5 of the 2011 series. St. Louis won 1-0 behind Chris Carpenter’s three-hit gem against Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.

The Cardinals continued to challenge for championships over the next decade, losing three times in the NL Championship Series and once in the World Series.

The team they’re taking into this postseason might be the best one yet: Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt will be getting plenty of MVP votes. The starting rotation, buoyed by the trade-deadline arrival of Game 1 starter Jose Quintana, has been solid.

Molina is back behind the plate, Wainwright is available out of the bullpen and Pujols, after soaring past 700 homers and topping Babe Ruth in career RBIS, will try to continue his torrid second half.

The Phillies were going nowhere when team president Dave Dombrowski fired manager Joe Girardi in June, replacing him with Rob Thomson. They were 23-29 and 51/2 games out of the playoffs, despite a payroll pushing $237 million.

But with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto leading the offense, and a rotation featuring Aaron Nola and Game 1 starter Zack Wheeler shutting down hitters, Thomson led one of the biggest turnarounds in baseball.