Cubs ground rival Cardinals, lower magic number

Hendricks was in control in beating the Cards on Saturday

The Chicago Cubs downed their historic arch-rival Saint Louis Cardinals by a 4-1 score on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

With the victory, the Cubbies lowered their 'Magic Number' to clinch their second consecutive NL Central Division crown to 10 over the Cards, and to 11 over the second place Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers were dumped by the host Marlins down in Miami by a 7-4 score. Combined with a huge 16-0 destruction of the San Diego Padres by the Colorado Rockies, the Brewers now trail the Rockies by 3.5 games, and the Cardinals trail Colorado by 4.5 in the race for the final NL Wildcard berth.

The Cubs fifth straight win was made possible largely thanks to a brilliant outing from starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks. The 27-year old righty allowed just six hits over 7.2 innings, striking out five and walking just one.

Albert Almora singled home the game's first run in the bottom of the 4th, then doubled home another in the home 5th inning that made it a 3-0 game.

After Matt Carpenter's solo homer put the Cards on the board in the top of the 8th, Addison Russell responded with one of his own in the bottom of the frame to provide the final margin of victory.

Starlin Castro reaching his full potential in the Bronx

To the surprise of some, the New York Yankees are on top of the American League East Division standings. 

The Yankees current 24-13 record has the club 1.5 games up on the second place Baltimore Orioles.

One of the biggest keys to the surge by the latest incarnation of the Bronx Bombers to the top of the standings has been the play of second baseman Starlin Castro.

Castro was dealt by the Chicago Cubs at the 2015 Winter Meetings to the Yankees. In exchange, New York received pitcher Adam Warren and a player to  be named later. That PTBNL turned out to be infielder Brendan Ryan.

Castro was always seen as having dynamic offensive potential. The Cubs hierarchy simply believed that he had reached the peek of his skills, and that they had better in-house options.

At the time of the trade, the Cubs had both Javier Baez and Addison Russell ready for full big league opportunities. In fact, Russell broke into the starting lineup on the North Side as a second baseman in 2015, as Castro had been established as the Cubs starting shortstop.

Castro was signed out of his native Dominican Republic, and in 2010 made his big league debut. He finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting that season after hitting .300 with 31 doubles, 10 steals, and 41 RBI over 503 plate appearances.

The following year of 2011, Castro led all of Major League Baseball with 207 hits. And in three of the four years between 2011-14, Castro was a National League All-Star.