CHICAGO -- For a big league baseball team, there is no more helpless feeling than carrying '1' under the elimination number column of the standings. That one little perpendicular mark screams at you that you've ceded all control over your fate.
That's what Miles Mikolas and the St. Louis Cardinals were up against as they prepared to take on the Chicago Cubs Saturday afternoon in a frigid fall affair at Wrigley Field. After dropping the series opener on Friday, the Cardinals knew that with one more loss or one more Los Angeles Dodgers victory there would be no October baseball in St. Louis.
The silver lining in all of this for St. Louis was that it had Mikolas, one of baseball's breakout performers who dons one of baseball's breakout mustaches on his upper lip. Mikolas bears the nickname "The Lizard King" which is what The Doors' Jim Morrison called himself, saying, "I am the Lizard King. I can do anything."
All the Cardinals needed was one more king-like performance from Mikolas, and they got it. Mikolas cruised through eight innings against the Cubs, allowing only an unearned run in the first. St. Louis scratched out a pair of runs to back him, one those also being of the unearned variety, and escaped with a 2-1 win.
Not bad for an unsung free agent, signed out of Japan last winter, who hadn't pitched in the big leagues since 2014. He's come a long way, literally and figuratively.
"To be the guy that they're looking to," Mikolas said. "That's another dream come true. A lot of hard work and effort."
Still, under the elimination column, the number remained '1.'
"It's fun," Mikolas said. "A lot of intensity. I think that's why a lot of these guys play baseball, to compete against the best and have a great time. We played a great game, and it was a lot of fun."
Mikolas won his 18th game with the performance and lowered his ERA to 2.83. He finishes a perfect 10-0 on the road. In a topsy-turvy season for the Cardinals, Mikolas has been the constant. He reached the 200-inning mark, during which he walked just 29 batters all season. He posted his 20th quality start in 32 outings.
True to form, Mikolas did not walk a batter on Saturday, the 12th time he has done that this season. His rate of 1.3 walks per nine innings is the lowest of all qualifying pitchers in baseball. That, and a well-developed ability to work off the inner part the plate, has allowed him to succeed in the Era of Strikeouts, even though his own whiff rate (6.6 K/9) is well below the big league average.
"Miles is a microcosm of what we look at," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said, "That's consistent competition, and that's what you're going to get out of him. That's what wins. Credit to him. He shows up well-prepared, even-keeled, and goes out and pitches. Just a fantastic job today."
It was a nice bounce-back performance for St. Louis after Friday's 8-4 loss, during which St. Louis committed three errors in one of the more ragged efforts of the brief Shildt era. For a time on Saturday, it looked like more of the same, like the Cardinals were doing an ugly face-plant to finish their season.
With Chicago's Ben Zobrist on first and two outs, Javier Baez lofted a blooper into short right-center that held up just long enough for second baseman Yairo Munoz to run under it. But the ball unceremoniously popped out of Munoz's glove, allowing Zobrist to score from first. It was the Cardinals' fourth error in the first 10 innings of the series.
On top of that, Chicago starter Cole Hamels was breezing through the St. Louis lineup, setting down the first nine Redbirds in order. Finally, Matt Carpenter reached on catcher's interference to lead off the fourth, moved to second on a walk, and scored on a Paul DeJong single. In the fifth, Harrison Bader led off with a hit by pitch, moved to second on a walk, and scored on a Carpenter hit.
That's all. St. Louis tallied just those two runs, both largely gifted to them by the Cubs. Thanks to Mikolas, it was enough.
"That says a lot," Shildt said. "There wasn't any give with this club today. We're proud of them. Tough, competitive game. We took advantage of situations. Hard fought back and forth."
It's easy to look at it as a microcosm of the St. Louis season: Just when it looked completely dead, it springs back to life. With that, the Cardinals put the Cubs in the same position they are in: Wringing their hands about a game taking place in another city.
Saturday's gem was as far as the Lizard King's powers of control can take them. Even Mikolas could not influence the events in San Francisco, where the Giants were taking on the Dodgers. St. Louis needed L.A. to lose in order to signify Sunday's regular-season finale with a little bit of meaning for the Cardinals. The dream was fading, but alive as they departed Wrigley. That dream is one in which St. Louis hosts Los Angeles at Busch Stadium on Monday in a tiebreaker game for the NL's last wild-card slot.
"We did everything we could do today," Mikolas said. "I know a few guys on the Giants. Maybe (I will) send a few text messages, pump them up, get them ready for the game. We'll go grab dinner and a beer and see how that game shakes out."
But one thing even the Lizard King can't do, Jim Morrison influence or not, great mustache or not, is command a baseball game from afar. The Giants and Dodgers were just beginning when the writer of this story left the St. Louis clubhouse. By the time he reached the press box, Joc Pederson had hit a leadoff homer for the Dodgers. By the time this story was finished, Yasiel Puig had added another solo shot.
But then the Giants trimmed the lead to one, and put two guys on in the third. Joe Panik knocked them both in, putting San Francisco ahead by a run. Somewhere out in the late Chicago afternoon, you could imagine two busloads of Cardinals barreling down Lake Shore Drive, chirping like crazy.
That's life with '1' in the elimination column. So much is beyond your control. You have no choice but to leave yourself over to fate, hoping against hope that it grants a request so simple: Can we please have just one more day of meaning?
"We're big Giants fans right now," Shildt said. "Looking forward to playing the last game of the season in a meaningful game."