LOS ANGELES — His hand raised, his steps light, Chris Taylor had not yet rounded first base when Alex Reyes headed for home.
The final pitch of the Cardinals’ 2021 season — a slider — left Reyes’ fingertips, found Taylor’s bat, and landed somewhere out there in the Dodger Stadium seats. Few, if any, Cardinals bothered to watch where it landed. They took off for the dugout, knowing what Taylor’s home run meant before the scoreboard reported it, 3-1. In one swing, the game, the playoffs, the season was over for the Cardinals. On his way to the offseason after his first full season in the majors, Reyes walked into an embrace.
And then another.
