With the Cardinals win tonight, former Cincinnati Red Arthur Rhodes is one game closer to a sure-thing World Series ring. And I don’t say that because Dave Duncan has obviously signed a deal with the devil to get that bullpen performing like it is; Rhodes gets a ring either way:

Less than a week shy of his 42nd birthday, the left-handed relief pitcher is in his first World Series, and he is guaranteed of getting a championship ring because he’s played for both teams this season, becoming the eighth player in baseball history to do so.

If you had to pick a Cardinal to be in that situation, I can’t think of a better one to choose.

Former Cincinnati Reds majority owner and CEO Carl Lindner died Monday night at the age of 92.

Lindner took over the team in 1999 after Marge Schott was forced out. Perhaps his greatest influence on the team was to bring a sense of stability to the owner’s spot.

Lindner held his majority stake through 2006, overseeing the building and opening of Great American Ball Park and the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. He sold most of his shares in the team to Bob Castellini’s group in January 2006.

With 89% of precincts reporting, it is the St. Louis Cardinals who will be representing the National League in the World Series.

We at Red Hot Mama would like to thank the Milwaukee Brewers for demonstrating that really crappy defense really can sink you in the post-season. As Reds fans, we had to be wondering whether the plus defense on the field in Cincinnati was worth it, and now we see how ugly the alternative can be in the playoffs. Now if they can just get to October baseball to demonstrate how good good defense can look.

The American League side of the World Series has been decided tonight: the Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers in six games. The score was Detroit 5, Texas 15.

The National League series continues tomorrow night. The Cardinals lead the series 3-2, so the Brewers have to win to stay alive. The series has moved back to Milwaukee, and if the Brew Crew does manage to come back to win the series, we may have already seen Albert Pujols’ last game at Busch Stadium.

Sports Illustrated is going to be running a story this week about how the final four teams in the World Series chase this year do not include a coastal team in their ranks.

I hadn’t thought about that, but I suppose these are a couple very centrally located match-ups. I wonder if it’s affecting viewership. On the one hand, the population density really is quite a bit lighter out here than on the coasts. On the other hand, Wednesday is one of the few nights that football isn’t played, so that’s at least promising for this particular evening.

I must admit that I find it kind of lame to be watching the Cardinals and the Brewers, and not just because it should have been the Reds. I mean, how many times did we see this damn game during the season? There’s no particular excitement to watching this.

That last opinion, of course, could just be because it should have been the Reds.

I suppose we’ll only be seeing more post-season reruns when the second Wild Card team is added. It might be nice if the system were set up to favor the division winners a little bit more. The WC team generally already has momentum on their side; they don’t really need additional advantages.

Of course, considering the make-up of the field this year, I think MLB is more likely to change the rules to make sure a coast team makes it all the way down the line. At least it’s better than basketball.