ST. LOUIS -- Their offense in a rut and their leading MVP candidate off and trying to rediscover his own struggling swing, the Cardinals wasted no time in flushing a Sunday blanking and casting their collective focus to what lies dead ahead.

On the heels of Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the rebuilding Reds, the Cards play next on the West Coast in a couple of series that could serve as playoff previews. When St. Louis faces the Padres from Tuesday through Thursday, it could serve as a first look at what’s to come should those teams meet in the playoffs. That would happen if the Cardinals stay put and finish as the No. 3 seed as presumed champions of the NL Central and if the Padres finish as the No. 6 seed (they’re currently the No. 5 seed). That Wild Card Series, if played, would take place in St. Louis where the Cards have been, at times, unbeatable over the past two months.

After that, the Dodgers -- MLB’s only 100-win team -- await the Cardinals for a three-game weekend series. Los Angeles seems likely to be the top seed for the playoffs and it is the heavy favorite to come out of the NL and reach the World Series. The Cards and Dodgers have had numerous epic playoff series through the years, and if they meet this season, it would be in the NLCS for the right to go to the World Series.

The nine-day, eight-game road trip wraps up against the Brewers, yet another team the Cardinals could see again in the postseason. Division leaders most of the season before getting passed by the Cards in August, the Brewers are just two games back of the Phillies for the sixth seed. Though the Cardinals and Brewers have looked like teams headed in opposite directions much of the past two months, St. Louis holds just a 9-8 lead in the season series.   

“I think these series will be a parallel to our Yankees and Braves series [from August] when we knew we were playing good teams and we had to step it up,” said Paul DeJong, who had one of the Cardinals' two hits Sunday and added a stellar defensive play when he went into the hole, backhanded a ball and threw to first for an out. “We know we’re going to be playing good teams, it will be a good test for us, and we’ll have to step it up before we go into October.

“Overall, I think we’ll be energized after this day off [on Monday] and going out to the West Coast knowing these are teams that we’ve got to pick it up against,” DeJong added. “I think we’re the type of team that responds well to those types of challenges.”

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol takes great pride in pointing out that his team doesn’t place more value on one series over any other throughout the marathon-like 162-game MLB season. A 36-year-old skipper who considers motivational talks to be fake and fleeting, Marmol said his team will bring the same sort of approach to the series against teams they could potentially see again come playoff time.

He also thinks the Cardinals playing before massive crowds in recent weeks because of the hysteria surrounding Albert Pujols’ chase for 700 home runs will get the Cards ready for playoff atmospheres to come in mid-October.

“I’m sure it is [helpful] from a feel and an environment standpoint, but it’s felt [like the playoffs] playing in this stadium with the vibe up to this point,” said Marmol, whose Cardinals attracted more than 94,000 people in Saturday’s doubleheader and another 47,909 on Sunday. “We’re looking forward to this West Coast trip for sure, facing two good teams out there followed up by Milwaukee. You want their best and see how you match up against it.”

To be at their best, the Cardinals will need to shake themselves from an offensive drought that hit hard over the weekend. St. Louis had just 14 runs and 27 hits over the past five games. Goldschmidt, the NL’s leading candidate to win the MVP award, was 4-for-15 and had Sunday off after whiffing four times a night earlier. Fellow MVP candidate Nolan Arenado was 4-for-18, and Pujols’ one hit in 14 at-bats was his 698th home run.

“We just have to worry about ourselves, get ourselves in a good place and realize sometimes it’s just you vs. you,” veteran outfielder Corey Dickerson said. “The rough stretch has kept us from looking ahead [to the playoffs] because we’re all trying to get our feet under us. Once everybody’s bodies get caught up, there’ll be excitement going into the last week and playoffs.”