Canada’s World Series hopes ride with Pirates, Red Sox, and Cardinals

The NL wild-card game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night decided more than just which team would move on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS.

It impacted an entire nation.

Well, maybe that's a little dramatic but it did influence whether the Reds' Joey Votto or the Pirates' Russell Martin and Justin Morneau would have the opportunity to be Canada's team in October.

Martin did his part to ensure the support could go the way of Pittsburgh, mashing two home runs in a 6-2 win.

With Votto's early exit, Martin, Morneau, Ryan Dempster of the Red Sox and John Axford of the Cardinals will form MLB's Canadian contingent this postseason. Guelph, Ont. native Jesse Crain is a member of the Rays but hasn't thrown a pitch for Tampa Bay since he was acquired from the White Sox in late July and has been left off their playoff roster.

Votto and Morneau have won MVP's, Martin and Dempster are multi-time All-Stars but postseason success has been harder to come by for Canadians plying their trade on the diamond.

A 40-year-old Matt Stairs got one at-bat for the Phillies during their World Series triumph in 2008, the last Canadian to lift the Commissioner's Trophy. (Yes, that's what this is called).

Canada's two greatest baseball talents never took home baseball's biggest prize. Ferguson Jenkins never won the World Series (he is, after all, enshrined in Cooperstown as a member of the Chicago Cubs). Larry Walker lost the World Series with St. Louis in 2004, retired after the 2005 season, and watched the Cardinals win the title a year later. He was also on the powerhouse 1994 Montreal Expos team that had the best record in baseball in mid-August when a player's strike infamously cancelled the rest of the season.

According to Baseball Prospectus, to find the last Canadian regular (full-time position player or starting pitcher) to be on the winning side of the Fall Classic, you have to go all the way back to outfielder George Selkirk, born in Huntsville, Ont., who won five championships with the New York Yankees between 1934-1942.

This October, Martin, Morneau, Dempster, and Axford are out to join Stairs and Selkirk as World Series champions, even if history is not on their side.

With the Blue Jays long out of the playoff picture, Canadian baseball fans have a few options for who to root for in the 2013 postseason. When they make their pick, will they be willing to overlook Martin and Dempster's unwillingness to wear the red-and-white for their country at the latest World Baseball Classic?

There's guaranteed to be at least another team that will get some love North of the 49th. They don't have any Canadian players but many fans across the Detroit river in Windsor and across Southwestern Ontario are proud to call the Tigers their team.

The stage is set. Now it remains to be seen if a Canadian or two will be gracing it in late October when the AL and NL pennant winners battle it out for the World Series crown.

The country will be watching.