Over the decades, the Cardinals have taken pride in seeing their homegrown players flourish.

So the organization will be happy to see the scrappy and versatile Tommy Edman become the MVP of the National League Championship Series. It has long been among the prototypical cardinals harvested from the productive agricultural system.

Unfortunately, his success – and the success of pitcher Jack Flaherty, another key homegrown player for the Cardinals – is thanks to the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers advancing to the World Series.

Edman has done it all for the Dodgers in the postseason. He started as their midfielder and then moved to shortstop due to Miguel Rojas’ injury.

He was the No. 9 hitter in the high-powered Dodgers lineup, but he continued to drive in runs. So there Edman was in the mop-up spot in Game 6 of the NLCS as the Dodgers wrapped up the New York Mets.

Edman channeled his inner Randy Arozarena as he posted a .407/.393/.630 slash line with one home run, three doubles, a stolen base and 11 RBIs.

This was quite a turnaround for Edman, who missed nearly an entire season with a wrist injury that ended his run with the Cardinals.

“At the beginning of the year, I never thought I would be in this situation today,” Edman told reporters. “Everything was geared for me to be on this team and have the success we’ve had. Now we go to the World Series. It’s crazy.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts readily agreed with that assessment.

“It’s a crazy stretch,” Roberts said. “I can’t say enough about how the front office was able to acquire him at the deadline. What he can do for us on the field and in the clubhouse is simply amazing.

“I never thought once we acquired him that he would finish fourth in a postseason game. But I trust him. The boys trust him. He made huge defensive plays for us and had huge hits. We are just very happy with a player like Tommy.”

Edman’s postseason heroics will give Cardinals fans another reason to watch the World Series as their franchise prepares to cut payroll and start over.

Here’s what people have written about the playoffs:

Jesse Rogers, ESPN.com: “In the end, it didn’t matter who the Dodgers put on the mound; they had more than enough offense to overcome any pitching obstacles en route to another World Series appearance. Newcomers Shohei Ohtani and Tommy Edman (a midseason addition) led the way, combining for five RBIs and four hits in the decisive Game 6 victory. The Dodgers scored at least seven runs in all of their series wins – and another six in one of their two losses. There were waves of offense coming from the Mets, who cut their best starters as Sean Manaea had his worst outing of the postseason on Sunday. The same goes for Luis Severino and Jose Quintana, both of whom pitched earlier in the series. The attack ended a magical run for the Mets, who now have major free agent decisions to make — starting with first baseman Pete Alonso and ending with the three aforementioned pitchers. They fought valiantly, but in the end it was the Dodgers, not the Mets. The former team was simply too much for New York at the plate.

Mike Vaccaro, New York Post: “The Brewers outscored the Mets in 162 games, but the Mets were able to overcome that with one eternal swing of Pete Alonso’s bat, and so they slid out of the National League play-in series. The Phillies outscored the Mets in 162 games, but the Mets were able to overcome that because at some point in the four games and five days of the NLDS, pretty much everyone stepped up to be counted, and then Francisco Lindor hit a big clap. slam to forever serve as a bookend to the home run he hit to beat the Braves in Game 161. There was a lot of talk about “magic” as the Mets continued to grind deeper and deeper into October, and those of us with laptops and microphones were among the loudest sonneters of that storyline. But in its own way, reducing what we saw from September 30th to the misty swamp of mystique has done the Mets a disservice. After all, they were the best team in baseball as of June 1. That’s real. That’s legit. But sometimes legitimate meets legitimate. And so the Mets met the Dodgers. The Mets’ record of 65-39 after June 1 was the best in the major leagues, but the Dodgers’ were fifth, at 61-41, and the Dodgers had the advantage of being 37-23 by then. ”

Gabe Lakken, USA today: “These New York Yankees have smashed to pieces all this arbitrariness in the playoffs, all these ideas that superstars on superteams have no better chance of winning than some nondescript upper-middle class club that gets hot for a minute in October . The Yankees are back in the World Series for the first time since 2009. And a club that is truly larger than life has its big boys to thank. Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton aren’t just sluggers, MVP-caliber producers or nine-figure earners (Soto will soon join them in that club). They are a traveling roadshow, the 6-7 Stanton is able to hit the baseball harder than any human on the planet, the 6-6 Judge can somehow patrol center field with 58 home runs this season, a record in the American League 62 two seasons ago. And then there’s Soto, who feels like he’s been in the spotlight longer than any of them – yet is only celebrating his 26th birthday.^e birthday Friday, batting second and patrolling right field for the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.

Tom Lei, The defector: “The playoffs tend to provide certain reminders of how postseason baseball works. In completing their 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians to advance to the World Series, the Yankees gave something about the importance of power. Hit ten home runs in five games, as the Yankees did in this series, and you can overcome all kinds of base errors, poor defensive work and late-inning meltdowns. Just keep hitting the ball over the fence, and good things will happen for you. Here’s another reminder: There’s probably no hitter in baseball more terrifying to throw against in a high-leverage situation than Juan Soto. The Yankees right fielder came to bat in the top of the 10th inning, with the score tied 2-2, two men on base and two outs. Soto was looking for a fastball from Hunter Gaddis, and he wasn’t going to let the at-bat end until he got one. What must it feel like to pitch to a locked-in Juan Soto, who not only possesses all the confidence and power that makes him a great clutch hitter, but is also one of the most critical eyes in the game. I imagine it feels like being asked to cut down a redwood with an axe.

Tyler Kepner, The athletic: “The fun of watching Juan Soto is that he shows you how much he loves baseball. He knows exactly how to unleash his greatness, and while he’s eager to show it off, he’s willing to wait. He won’t always succeed, because that’s not how baseball works. But he seems so determined to enjoy the chase. The batter’s box is Soto’s happy place, like a hunter’s favorite deer stand. Soto will keep you in his sights and take as long as he needs. He will tempt you to show your weakness. And once you do that, you’re done.”

Davy Andries, FanGraph: “New York’s 4-1 series victory caps a thrilling and exciting series with multiple overtimes, compelling reversals, likely heroes and extremely unlikely goats. For the third straight game, the Yankees and Guardians were tied heading into the ninth inning. For the second straight game, the Yankees scored the winning runs off Cleveland’s untouchable, high-leverage relievers. The vaunted Guardians bullpen, asked to throw 28 innings over five games, actually ran a slightly better ERA than New York’s relievers, but Cleveland simply needed more from them. As has so often been the case, the Guardians always seemed to be a few stout bats short.”

Buster Olney, ESPN.com: “Saturday night, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt pointed a finger in the direction of each member of his bullpen, one by one, and called out each of the four relievers most responsible for Cleveland’s success this year. Because what they did was remarkable and ultimately unsustainable, with their extraordinary workload ending in a collapse in performance. . . Emmanuel Clase is widely considered baseball’s best reliever — the best reliever in the world, his manager called him, and by far the league’s best reliever, according to WAR. Cade Smith will likely get a lot of attention for AL Rookie of the Year. Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin were exceptional. Together, the big four had 290 combined innings and an ERA of 1.49. And in the series against the Yankees, that group allowed 11 runs in 13 innings. Clase was blamed for the loss in Game 4, and Gaddis surrendered Juan Soto’s game-winning three-run homer in Game 5. The relievers’ credo is that they will not acknowledge fatigue, and that they will take the ball if asked asked. . The Guardians won the AL Central in large part because they had the most effective relievers — their bullpen ERA was more than half a point better than any other team’s — and because those four Cleveland pitchers ranked in the top 11 of their appearances, Vogt remained hand them in. the ball, until October. Clase pitched in seven of Cleveland’s 10 playoff games, Gaddis in eight, and Herrin and Smith each played in nine. And performance cracks started to show.”

“This is what Big G lives for. By no means the accolades; far from it. But the opportunity to go to the World Series and play for a championship. That is his biggest motivation.”

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, on slugger Giancarlo Stanton.