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Five of ESPN.coms MLB beat writers who cover teams battling for wild-card berths were asked to make a case for why their team will be playing a do-or-die playoff game in October. Below, Mark Saxon argues for the St. Louis Cardinals against fellow writers Eddie Matz (Baltimore Orioles), Andrew Marchand (New York Yankees), Katie Strang (Detroit Tigers) and Adam Rubin (New York Mets).For more on the other contenders, check out?Wild-card Wednesday.Saxon: If you believe the moral of the old fable The Tortoise and the Hare, then you buy that the Cardinals will reach the NL wild-card game. While the other two contenders, the Mets and Giants, have had wild swings of fortune, the Cardinals have just kept plodding along. Their longest losing streak is five games. Their longest winning streak is five games. They came one right after the other in mid-June. So all they have to do is continue their steady-as-it-goes approach and one of the other two contenders figures to beat itself. The other thing they have going for them: Starting Thursday, the best road team in baseball has 10 of its final 17 games away from Busch Stadium. If they get into the postseason, who knows? Maybe theyll finally get hot.Marchand: This does not feel like a classic Cardinals team. They have been great on the road, but that could be reaching its expiration point.Matz: As my mother will tell you, Im a good boy who follows directions, and my marching orders here were to shoot a hole in every one of these theories (except mine, of course). To do that, Im calling on my experience with logic puzzles back in Mrs. Harris fifth-grade math class. If the Mets and Cardinals arent wild cards (which, per my instructions, they cant be), then the wild cards must be the second-place NL West team (Giants or Dodgers) and the ... Marlins?Strang: The Cards had dropped four of their past six games heading into Tuesdays action, including Mondays loss, in which they mustered just one hit off Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks (who, granted, has been lights-out against pretty much everyone in recent months) and saw Matt Carpenter exit the game with back tightness. More concerning is that St. Louis still has another set against the Cubs before closing out the season with a seven-game homestand. That stretch at home should be a good thing, especially considering their caliber of competition -- except for the fact, as Saxon astutely pointed out, that the Cards have been awful at Busch Stadium this year.Rubin: We already covered the disparity in schedule strength the remainder of the season to justify why the Mets will reach the postseason over St. Louis. Now lets zero in on the Cardinals swoon, which is being fueled by inconsistent starting pitching, erratic defense and a glaring lack of setup men. Jaime Garcia produced an 8.06 ERA in a five-start stretch through last Thursday. Meanwhile, Aledmys Diaz has only a .957 fielding percentage, with 16 errors through 93 games at shortstop. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Soccer Jerseys Outlet . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Stitched Soccer Jerseys . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. BOWMANVILLE, Ontario -- John Nemechek raced Cole Custer door-to-door through the grass as their trucks barreled to the finish line at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The rough racing to the checkered flag required a lengthy review by NASCAR before Nemechek was declared the winner Sunday.Custer was furious with the way he was raced and used a leaping tackle to knock Nemechek to the ground as Nemechek waited at the flagstand to be named the winner.After, Nemechek said he raced Custer clean to the finish.We didnt wreck him for the win. Rubbin is racin, Nemechek said. If I had been in the same spot, he would have done the same thing to me to get a win. You have to do everything you can to get a win here.Custer, who needed the win to make the truck series version of the playoffs, felt Nemechek was dirty.We had a really fast truck. We got taken out, Custer said. He hit me going into the second-to-last corner, and he hit me again. I dont know what else to do. But tthats how it is, I guess.ddddddddddddIt was Nemecheks second series win of the season, while Custer is still seeking his first victory of the year. Custer is too far behind in points to make the playoffs without a victory. Only one race remains before the eight-driver Chase field is Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway.Custer started from the pole and led 39 of the 66 laps. He only gave when he made a green-flag pit stop, and that allowed Nemechek to cycle into the lead.But Custer got it back on a late restart and held Nemechek off two more times before the final lap in overtime.Nemechek hit Custer once, then a second time before the two trucks raced into the grass. They slid across the finish line with Nemechek just slightly ahead.Daniel Hemric, Matt Crafton and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five finishers at the road course. ' ' '