Cardinals prez: 2011 NLDS 'was like a fork in the road'

St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals president: 2011 NLDS vs. Phillies 'was like a fork in the road' for the two teams

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 10/6/22

Friday marks the 11-year anniversary of Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS between the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won that contest and went on to win the World Series that year.

At 2:07 p.m. ET on Friday, St. Louis and Philadelphia will meet again to kick off the National League side of the 2022 postseason in the wild card round. It will mark the Cardinals fourth consecutive playoff appearance and eighth overall since their 2011 championship, while the Phillies are finally back in the tournament since the Game 5 defeat more than a decade ago.

St. Louis Cardinals president John Mozeliak on the impact of the 2011 playoffs vs. #Phillies:
‘It was like a fork in the road: One went left, one went right.’
The #Stlcards went on to reach the postseason 8 times with WS title.
This will be Phillies 1st playoff appearance since.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 6, 2022

With the expanded playoffs this year, the wild-card series is a best-of-three format, but because St. Louis is the No. 3 seed as a divisional champion and Philadelphia is the No. 6 seed as a wild-card team, the Cardinals will have home-field advantage for the entire series. St. Louis was 53-28 at home this season, while Philadelphia posted just a 40-41 mark on the road.

The hosts will start Jose Quintana in Game 1, while the visitors will put Zack Wheeler on the hill.

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