The Cardinals won again Wednesday night, because, well, it's a day in August that ends in the letter "y." Seriously, this surge is something. It was a power-fueled comeback, too. Take a look: 

The Cardinals are now 17-4 in August. That's an .810 winning percentage. Here are the teams in MLB history with a full August and a better winning percentage (via baseball-reference.com play index):

  • 1936 Giants, 24-3
  • 2002 A's, 24-4
  • 1944 Cardinals, 23-4
  • 1914 A's, 23-5
  • 1932 Yankees, 23-5
  • 1954 Indians, 26-6

That's it. A lot of teams have played in August in baseball history, right? We're witnessing one of the best of all time. 

In the process, the Cardinals have taken over the top NL wild-card spot and trimmed the Cubs' lead over them from 8 1/2 to 2 1/2 with three head-to-head games remaining. 

From a personal standpoint, a month ago I wouldn't have even considered the Cardinals as a possible playoff team. Wednesday afternoon on a radio spot, I was asked to name the five NL playoff teams and the Cardinals were the second team I mentioned. That's just one person off the top of his head, though. How about playoff odds? SportsLine now has the Cardinals with a 73.3 percent chance of playing in the postseason. Check out this chart tracking their rebound: 

chart.jpg

What's going on? Is this unsustainable? 

The Cardinals are hitting .271/.346/.454 in August, so they are hitting for average, getting on base and hitting for power. They are hitting for power in a clutch way, too, as evidenced by the highlight above. An MVP candidate (Matt Carpenter) is leading the charge, but it's a well-rounded and balanced attack. Five players on the current roster have between 11 and 16 homers with only Carpenter (34) having more. 

The rotation is pitching to a 2.84 ERA and, most importantly after so many early-season implosions, the bullpen has a 1.97 ERA in the month. The revamping back in July worked. 

The defense behind Kolten Wong and developing star Harrison Bader is strong as well. 

The 17-4 part is unsustainable, but the Cardinals being a good and playoff-caliber team isn't. The Cardinals are third in the NL in team ERA, sixth in runs scored and going well right now and score above average in defensive efficiency. Now that the bullpen is settled, they don't really have many question marks. The run differential lines up, they are 18-18 in one-run games. There just isn't much here that's out of whack. 

These Cardinals are for real and, at this rate, the final series of the season -- a three-gamer in Wrigley Field -- could really mean something. And, really, with every team in the NL having serious flaws, it wouldn't be all-too-surprising to see the Fall Classic in St. Louis again. Who would've thought that possible back in late July?