On Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium to clinch the NL Central division title. While that killed the Cardinals’ NL Central hopes, they were still alive for the second NL Wild Card slot with four days remaining in the season. The Cardinals needed to win the final four games and have the Colorado Rockies lose their final three games to get into the playoffs. Slim chance, but possible.

The Cardinals caught a break going into Thursday night’s game against the Cubs, with Chicago deciding to give several of their top players the night off after already securing the division title. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Willson Contreras were among the players to get the night off, while a few players that spent most of the season at Triple-A got to start.

Well, the game went into extras tied at 1-1, and Cubs fifth-string catcher Taylor Davis hit an RBI double in the 11th to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

It appeared the Cardinals tied the game back up with two outs in the bottom half of the inning, when Paul DeJong crushed a Jen-Ho Tseng offering to deep center field. But Cubs center fielder Leonys Martin went over the wall to rob DeJong of a home run to end the game, and to end the Cardinals’ playoff hopes.

And the Cardinals’ call, if you can handle it:

[MLB]

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.