Make-or-Break road trip for the defending-champions

While the defending champion Saint Louis Cardinals enter this weekend's three game series at Great American Ball Park against the first-place leading Reds, manager Mike Matheny and this season's squad knows exactly how big these next ten games, and three series' exactly are.

In the next three series, the Cardinals will be traveling to Ohio to play three against the first-place Cincinnati Reds, following a three game road trip to Pittsburgh to play three against another Wild Card opponent, ending the road-stand with four in the nation's capital against the Washington Nationals--and by no means, are any of these series going to be easy--but to say the least, will be very exciting and entertaining.

The Cardinals currently beat the Reds tonight by a score of 8-to-5, and with the win, they picked up one game on them in the National League Central title race--putting them at just six ball games out. Pittsburgh also lost on the night--and with that, they now lead both the Pirates and Dodgers by two games in the Wild Card race for the final spot (Dodgers game is currently in progress).

With a 1-0 start to the ten-game road trip, the Cardinals' most certainly need to keep this going and continue gaining momentum. It was exactly one year ago that this squad started the games' greatest comeback of all-time---and if there is one thing they know how to do--it's play a strong nine-innings long of baseball.

Although it is late August at the moment, which all-in-all basically means we have about a full month of ball left to be played, this road-stand could most certainly be a make-or-break type of trip. If the team falls flat and finishes with just a couple wins--which translate into both the Reds and Pirates gaining games on them, that could spell doom to this current team--which in my opinion, isn't exactly a word the Cardinals have in there dictionary as of late.

If they can fight and continue winning and make this an impressive road trip, it could put all the momentum into the hands of this team--and if they can gain confidence and get hot at the right time--especially right around late September and early October, this team is defininetly a team that could win another championship.

While all-in-all it seems to be a long shot at the moment for this current team to go back-to-back as World Champions and be the first team to do it since the New York Yankees, this current ten game road trip could have a lot to say and do with the teams regular season and postseason fate. 

Right now, it is make or break time for the defending world champions.