PHOENIX -- Kolten Wong did not travel with the Cardinals for their final road series of the regular season, as he went back to St. Louis to give full attention to his left hamstring strain in preparation for the postseason.

“He potentially could have gotten into some baseball activity on Wednesday,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “But based on the travel and flight, it made sense for him to get back to St. Louis and get full attention back there.”

After being diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain Thursday, Wong said Sunday that he hopes to make it back to the lineup this weekend against the Cubs at Busch Stadium.

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Cards postseason berth due to ‘different focus’

After the Cardinals celebrated clinching a postseason berth for the first time since 2015 on Sunday, their focus quickly turned to the last week of the season and trying to win the National League Central. With their magic number down to four over the Brewers, the Cardinals have a chance to do that this week against the D-backs or the Cubs.

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President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Monday at Chase Field that there has been a different focus with the Cardinals this year, one that was able to push them to the postseason instead of having them on the outside looking in.

“I think just how we go about the day to day,” Mozeliak said. “Under Mike Shildt and the staff, we were very intentional about cleaning up our baserunning, cleaning up our defense. You saw that happen. Then of course you couple that with the additions of [Paul] Goldschmidt, [Andrew] Miller, and this combination has worked.”

While the Cardinals have been close to the postseason each year since 2015, the Cubs have been spoilers to the Cardinals’ postseason goals three of the last four years. They knocked the Cardinals out of the playoffs in the NL Division Series in 2015, and the Cubs won the series against the Cardinals the final week of the season to eliminate St. Louis from Wild Card contention in '17 and '18. This year, the Cardinals swept the Cubs in four games at Wrigley Field to clinch the postseason berth.

“The last three years have been a success, but they weren’t in the postseason,” Mozeliak said. “But to finally get back there, it feels good. Because we won’t have to hear that anymore. But in all honesty, I feel like we have been close the last couple of years, but this club is playing with a different focus, and it’s really fun to watch.”