The St. Louis Cardinals were the first team to earn a playoff berth this season. On Wednesday, they went one gigantic step further, wrapping up their third consecutive NL Central crown with an 11-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates. [ Check out Big League Stew on Tumblr for even more baseball awesomeness. ] The Cardinals had two chances to celebrate Wednesday, but ended up splitting a day-night doubleheader. They dropped the opener 8-2 to Gerrit Cole, but bounced back in the nightcap behind a big game from Jason Heyward to earn their 100th victory of the season. The Cardinals winning the Central was a foregone conclusion for several months. They essentially went coast-to-coast, spending every day from April 16 on in first place. That it ended up taking this long is a credit to the talent and the resilience of Clint Hurdle's Pirates. Pittsburgh could still win 99 games this season, but will have to defeat the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card game for another crack at St. Louis. That's how important winning the division is to the Cardinals. It's a guaranteed ticket to the NLDS, and it's an extra few days to lick their wounds and heal up. We spoke of the Pirates' resilience. The...