 Complete the following phrase:  St. Louis finished two games ahead of the runner-up Pittsburgh Pirates, who qualified for the Wild Card Game. In the National League Division Series NLDS, the Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, three games to one. They surrendered the National League Championship Series NLCS in five games to the San Francisco Giants, the eventual World Series champions. Despite the NLCS defeat, the Cardinals already had four consecutive LCS appearances, the first team to do so since the New York Yankees from 