Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - BENCHMARK: St. Louis Cardinals STRUGGLE Against Brewers But Hold Their Own Against PLAYOFF Teams!
Episode Date: September 28, 2026Cardinals close the 2026 season with a sobering sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers, underscoring how far the Redbirds must go to catch up to the NL Central powerhouse. JD Hafron spotlights the Cardinals�...� struggles against Milwaukee’s relentless aggression and error-forcing style, dissecting why the Brewers dominate even without star-studded spending. Can St. Louis learn from small-market blueprints like Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland to rebuild for long-term success?0:00 Show Open12:16 Cardinals’ Approach vs. Brewers, Small Market Blueprint14:54 Cardinals-Brewers Series Recap & What Went Wrong24:37 MLB Playoff Picture & Who to WatchFollow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.Gameday Mens HealthGameday Men’s Health is a real, in-person men’s health clinic that looks at the full picture before developing a treatment plan. Book your complimentary test and consult at https://gamedaymenshealth.com.OdooGreat organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.5-Hour ENERGYGet candy-flavored chaos with Fruity Rainbow 5-hour ENERGY®️ Shots - available online at https://5hourENERGY.com or AmazonStanceCheck out the ICON collection from Stance—premium comfort, performance, and durability designed for whatever your day brings.Use promo Code LOCKEDON at checkout for 20% off your purchase. Learn more at https://Stance.com.Stance. The Official Sock Partner of Major League Baseball.KALSHIFor a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. It’s time to put your knowledge to the test with College Football Pick’Em from FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app and play College Football Pick'Em for free. Only on FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)#ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The St. Louis Cardinals close out the 2026 season and prove that, yeah, they can compete with some of the best in the league.
But they're still ways away from catching up to the Milwaukee Brewers.
You are locked on Cardinals.
Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Haffern.
And today's episode is brought to you by Cal She for a limited time, download Cal She and use code locked on to get $25.
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On today's show, we're going to get you set up for the upcoming playoffs in both the NL and the AL.
Set up the brackets.
Tell you who to keep an eye on.
As baseball fans, we're not going to just not watch the playoffs, are we?
I'm still going to watch.
Just because the Cardinals aren't in them, doesn't mean I'm not going to watch.
They're not in them again for the third straight year, which is pretty disappointing.
We'll also recap the series with the Brewers.
a series that despite the brewers not even needing to win,
they still came out and pulled down the Cardinals' pants and spanked them like the little kids that they are,
which is, I get it is what they are.
You know, they are very, very young.
And compared to what the Brewers got going on, you know,
cardals are still young.
They're still learning.
Brewers are the veterans who have been there,
done that and have taken control of this.
division and that's kind of what they do.
You know, you got to spank the little ones, right?
The Brewers finished the regular season with the best record in the league for the second straight season.
And they've now won 90 games or more in four straight years.
And this year they cracked the century mark in wins for the first time in franchise history.
They went 103 and 59, but the Dodgers right behind them at 162,
although nobody's really talking about the Dodgers.
everybody expected that from L.A.
You got a $400 million payroll.
You're supposed to win 100 games, right?
But the Brewers are the first team to lead majorly baseball and win percentage
in consecutive years since 2010-2011.
Phillies did it that year.
Others in the last 30 years to do it, 1992-93 Atlanta Braves,
the 95-96 Cleveland Indians at the time,
the 0-203 New York Yankees, and then our –
0, 405 St. Louis Cardinals. Very good teams. One of the things that always gets pointed out about the Brewers is that, you know, they play in the smallest media market in Major League Baseball.
And despite that, despite not spending money, they don't have on players they can't afford.
They rely on their farm system to replenish things when guys are ready to hit free agency or they get traded before they hit free agency, which they've just been so good at doing.
and the guys they do sign are usually just bit players in free agency.
It's not like they go out and buy like these huge pieces.
They're not guys that they expect to lean on during the entire season.
They're the guys that fill in the gaps.
The Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates are all small market teams as well.
They have not found the consistent success that Milwaukee has for one reason or another.
The Tampa Bay Rays are another great example of a small market team that is,
consistently been competitive. They had the third best record in the league this year,
best of the American League. In 98 and 64, they were 81 and 81 last year and 80 and 82,
the previous year before that. They won 99 games in 2023 and 100 in 2021. The Cleveland
Guardians continue to make the playoffs despite having the lowest payroll in the league this year.
And they're normally in the bottom five in payroll. And they've made the playoffs in 2022,
2024, 2025. So even though these teams don't
spend a fortune on free agents, they continue to find success because the complaint this year
was the Cardinals aren't spending money. How dare they? They have been a team that spends money
over the years and they decided not to. They spent more money sending people away than bringing
people in, right? Now the ultimate goal, like when we talk about the success of these other
small market teams, now the ultimate goal is the winner world series championship and not just make
the playoffs. None of them have been able to do that yet. They haven't been the one team. They haven't been the
one team standing at the very end of it all.
But you can't be that team unless you make it to the playoffs in the first place.
And these teams have proven that you can do it consistently.
So rewiring how we think as Cardinal fans has been an adjustment the last couple of seasons
where they decided to start slashing payroll and getting rid of guys that are expensive
and letting younger, cheaper people take over.
So if there are three teams that the Cardinals should be patterning themselves after,
these are the three Milwaukee, Tampa Bay and Cleveland.
And we know president of baseball operation,
Tyne Bloom spent a lot of time in Tampa Bay,
assistant general manager, player development and performance.
Robster Folio comes from Cleveland.
The Cardinals are trying to do what those franchises have been able to accomplish.
And I know in this day and age, we want instant gratification, right?
That's just the way it is.
Like everything has to be now, now, now, now.
But when Heim came on, he told all of us that this is going to,
to take some time. Long-term success would not be compromised for short-term satisfaction.
The like full quote was, you know, that may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices
to get where we want to go. We can't take shortcuts and we won't.
So watching the Cardinals this weekend was, was interesting. And we saw them succeed quickly
throughout the season as they caught many of us off guard, right? The rebuilding thing
it felt like it was easier, right?
You know, this was supposed to be the really bad year.
You know, there were websites that said,
hey, they're going to win like 66 games.
And they didn't.
They were much better than that.
But at the very beginning of the season,
going near the All-Star break, we're thinking,
hey, this is pretty easy.
Look at us go.
And the Cardinals found a lot of success
against some really good teams this year.
And it was impressive.
Playoff teams.
Like, do you realize their records against
some of these teams go to the playoffs, like four and two against the Atlanta Braves,
seven and six against the Cubs, two and one against the White Sox, two and one against the
Guardians, three and O against the Houston Astros, four and two against the two-time
defending champion Dodgers, two and one against the Yankees, four and three against the San Diego
Padres, two and one against the Tampa Bay Raves. That's a winning record against nine of the
12th playoff teams this year. That's a 30 and seven.
team record. That's a 638 winning percentage, which is better than what the Brewers winning
percentage was this year. And they won 103 games. They were at 636. So that just kind of shows
you the comparison there, like how well they actually did against some of the best teams in the league.
Now, the only playoff teams that they had losing records against were the Boston Red Sox. They
went one and two against them. The Phillies, they go two and four against them. And then there
is the Milwaukee Brewers.
And domination is about as good of a word as I can use to describe what the Brewers did to the Cardinals this year.
Dominance, supremacy, mastery, all great words for what they did to the Cardinals, who finished
with a two and eleven record against the Milwaukee Brewers.
two and 11.
The Cardinals are the only team that they got double figure wins against.
Obviously, there's only so many teams in the division.
And they swept a few really good teams like Baltimore and the White Sox and the Yankees.
But the Cardinals were the team that they took most advantage of.
Even the Reds won four games against them.
Cubs only won four games against the Pirates.
Ended up winning 7 of 13.
They won the series against the Brewers.
Actually finished 82 and 80 on the season.
and the Pirates did.
So good for them, right?
But to me, watching what was happening this weekend in this final series against the Brewers,
to me, it just shows, and it wasn't that like, oh, my gosh, what a failure everything is at all.
Like, you can't do that.
Out of 162 games, you're going to say the final three show exactly what you were all through all of it.
No, I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying that there's work still to be done.
And Heinblum said as much when he was in the booth recently.
He said as much.
He was like, we know there's still a lot of work to be done in the Pittsburgh series.
I think he was when he joined him.
You know, it was fun as a fan, watching them compete as long as the Cardinals did this season,
hanging around in some things.
September was really, really tough.
Things did not go well.
I think a lot of the guys started to wear down.
A lot of these younger guys have never played that long in their lives.
so I can see why it would start to fall apart a little bit.
You also traded away pieces, you know, at the deadline that couldn't help you any longer.
And now they're helping other teams.
But the point is, we enjoyed it.
It was a fun season overall, a lot of great moments, which we will get to in upcoming episodes.
Like, we got a whole offseason to get through.
But beating the Brewers is the bar, right?
like what's you say in Moneyball.
My bar is here.
This is where I'm at.
I want to win a championship, right?
Well, to get to the championships,
you got to get through the Brewers.
You see what you can do in the division.
Like you pirates, reds, cubs,
you hold your own against those guys.
But the brewers beat you to a bloody pulp all season long.
And you got to learn how to beat them.
And it was clear in the series that even,
with the brewers not even having to try to win that the cardinals aren't even close to what the brewers
are yet. And that's the bar. That's what we got to get to. So we watched the series this week,
and I was like, yeah, you know, you see it where, you know, you come back and you make games
close and then the brewers end up winning in the end. You know, it's good because you see
that you are closer than maybe you thought you were going to be this year.
but you still got some work to do.
So let's talk about the games this weekend.
We'll talk about the good, the bad that happened throughout the weekend.
And what exactly went down that led to the Cardinals getting swept in the final series of their 2026 season.
We'll be doing that next on Locked on Cardinals.
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Cardinals your first list of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast,
network. Now watching the Brewers play a lot this year because I'm somebody who watches all games.
Like I'll go through and I'll check out, especially division people.
Like I want to keep an eye on things and what's going on with them.
But, you know, I'm a baseball junkie.
I like watching all the games and all the teams.
And one thing I noticed when you would watch Milwaukee Brewers game or you would watch
highlights about their games, for whatever reason, teams make a lot of mistakes
when they play the Brewers.
I looked it up.
Opposing teams average 0.68 errors per game against Milwaukee Brewers during this
2026 season, ranking them first in Major League Baseball for opponent errors per game.
Guess who was number one last year at 0.69? Nice. The Brewers! Yes, the Brewers once again.
And the one thing that the Brewers do better than any team that I've watched this year
is that when the other team makes a mistake, they capitalize. They take full advantage of it
and they're the best of the league of doing it.
I've never seen a team take advantage of, like, little things, too.
It's not just the big errors, you know, that are obvious things.
It's throwing to the wrong base or missing a cutoff man or throwing a ball in the dirt, you know, like a pitcher, spiking one and just taking advantage, aggressive base running.
A guy fielding a ball nonchalantly in the outfield and they take an extra base on him, you know, it's stuff that they preach.
It's like a code that the brewers live by.
They're going to be aggressive on the base paths.
They're going to use their speed.
They're going to put the ball in play.
They're not going to strike out a ton,
especially in the situations where they can't be striking out.
They're going to put the ball in play.
And they're going to put the pressure on their opponent.
So it's no surprise that on Friday night when watching the game,
which was an eight to four loss,
then it was two throwing errors that helped make the difference
and really catapult the Brewers to a victory.
You had throwing errors by pitchers, no less.
Stuff that these guys should be able to make these plays.
I know they're not expected to play defense as much as a normal infielder,
but come man, simple throws to first base and third base.
Like Justin Brule, Cade Winquist,
helped snap the 4-4 tie, which led to that big four-run eighth inning.
You also had a hit by batter by Justin Brule.
like stuff like that.
The brewers don't just waste those opportunities.
They pounce.
So you hit a guy.
There were three hits that inning.
You had another walk and then a sack fly.
And it was another moment where the cardinal suffered a loss in an opponent's last at bad.
They did it.
I think the final count was 105 times a year that they lost in the final at bat.
At least that's what it felt like, especially lately.
Brule hit David Hamilton with that first pitch.
Then on an attempted sacrifice, but Brule throws high to first base.
Then there's a two-run single by Bryce Terang.
Cade Winquist had a runner picked off, but makes a wild throw to third base.
William Conchera says, thank you.
Follows with an RBI single.
I mean, this is what they do.
You also had Bratz walking in a run.
Base is loaded.
They just walk in a range and giving it to them.
And then, of course, you know, you always see too, and this is credit to the Brewers.
Like, it's not, it's very frustrating.
that when they do put the ball in play,
it feels like they don't even hit the ball all that hard.
Like it seems like most of them are just squibbers or loopers or something.
And it just finds space every single time.
They just put it in play.
And again, put the pressure on the defense.
And it just seems to find a hole for them.
Like it's insane.
So when they talk about Cardinal Devil Magic,
you're going to hear that phrase tossed around
or you probably have heard it over the years.
that's exactly what the cardals used to do to people.
Like, it's just things would fall into place for him all the time,
and it was nice.
But now that Milwaukee's got that mojo.
Offins couldn't do much in this game.
Robert Gasser was dominating them other than that home run by Herrera.
They came back in the game.
They get the home room from Walker in the 7th.
Burley had a pinch hit two-run Dinger,
but it was all for not in the end.
So they lose that one, eight to four.
Saturday, Saturday was a more enjoyable,
game to watch because he had, again, rookie Quinn Matthews, who I've loved watching pitch this
year, just doing Quinn Matthews things. Got through five innings. He allowed three runs,
five hits, two walks, struck out seven. One big hit, gave up the two run, home run to Bryce
Terang. That was the difference, but it was yet another strong outing for the Cardinals rookie who
just looks more and more like he belongs. And when the next season does get underway, I would be
shocked if Quinn Matthews is not in the starting rotation in some way, shape, or form. Like, that
would blow me away. That means either something catastrophic has happened and an injury went down,
or he started pitching right-handed and doesn't know what's going on anymore. Because everything that
I've seen from him has shown me that he belongs here. Cardinals' offense again had nothing going on
after Alec Berlinson's 432-foot home runoff his buddy, Dustin May, in that third inning.
They had just three hits in the game.
They didn't have any after the third inning.
I was just snooze fest when it came to the offense.
But I enjoyed watching the Quinn Matthews portion of it.
Bolpin obviously did very, very good, but they fall three to two because the offense was cooked.
So not a whole lot going on there.
And then in yesterday's game on Sunday, it was all Brewers until late.
You know, Andre Palante, not to start he wanted to end the season on, allows singles to six of the first seven hitters he faced.
Singles.
Again, this is what the Brewers do.
Like, it doesn't have to be home runs.
Like, they don't hit a lot of home runs, but they base hit you to death.
They're going to find the gaps.
They're going to be aggressive base runners.
All the things that I want the Cardinals to be more like the Brewers do offensively.
Like, that's what I want to see.
I want them to be like that.
I like the Tampa Bay Rays, do the same stuff.
You know, they got a couple guys.
They put the ball over the wall.
Some of the Cardinals.
They're going to have Burley.
They're going to have Walker, Baez, Bernal.
Like, they've got Pop.
Yvonne Herrera, JJ Weatherholt.
These are guys that can hit home runs.
But I don't know, need them to.
Like, I just want them to find the gaps.
Get the base heads.
I just want to see that carousel go round, round, round, and round.
And that's what the Brewers do really well.
So six of the first seven hitters he faces.
Milwaukee jumps out to a 3-0-0 lead in the first inning.
Now against Amir Mordal, you might be okay.
You might think like, hey, we're all right.
It's 3-0, but we got eight innings to work with here.
It's going to be fine.
But you're going up against the Pride of Crowder College in the Yosho, Missouri.
Jacob Mizorowski, aka the Ms.
who held the Cardinals in just two hits through five and a third innings and struck out five.
He was the best pitcher in the National League this year.
I've never seen. Now, Christopher Sanchez was really, really good, too. Don't get me wrong.
But the Ms. when he, especially early on when he was super fresh, he was almost unhittable.
Like, I've never seen a guy just go out and dominate day in and day out the way he did this year.
It's incredible. It's incredible. And I'm very jealous. The Cardinals did not draft him.
And instead he falls to the Brewers that year.
Um, six nothing was the score in this one in the eighth inning when the bats finally made a little noise.
You had a Cesar Prieto triple.
It was like Garrett Mitchell finally didn't make a catch in center field.
That guy, man, can he cover some ground?
See, I need Nathan Church to be more like Garrett Mitchell.
The Prieto triple, so good for him.
Pahey's walks, Walker got Prieto in on that fielder's choice when the throws.
Should have been a double play.
But, I don't know, Walker's probably going to be safe at first anyway.
But throw goes wide, doesn't matter.
Herrera walks, and that brings up Leo Berdahl,
who absolutely crushes one into the second deck in right field to make it six to four.
What an impressive, impressive month he had, man.
Fifth of the season, only 102 played appearances, five home runs,
21 RBIs and 24 games played.
Offensively, he was incredible.
Defensively, man, there was a lot to work on.
We all expected Bernal to come up because he was the, you know,
gold Glover in the minor league.
And he did not look like a gold glover in his first go round at the big league level.
I would assume that he will be fine moving forward.
You can obviously the arm looks fantastic, but there's some things to work on.
But that was all they can buster.
Final score in this one was six four ending the season at 77 and 85,
losing their final four games and five of their last six on the final road trip in Pittsburgh and then in Milwaukee.
They also finished in fourth place in the division just ahead of the Cincinnati Red.
So, you know, at least they didn't finish it last.
That's something.
But no playoffs, no playoffs.
Burley wins the MLB RBI crown, which is great,
first time since Joe Tori did in 1971.
So that's something we can be proud of.
Way to go, Burley.
High five.
Playoffs will be without the Cardinals for a third straight season,
and they haven't won a playoff game since 2020
when they beat the Padres in one of the games in that series,
but lost the overall series, two games to one.
So it's been a while, guys.
It's been a while, like stained.
the music, the band. It's been a while. Yeah, yeah, has been. But we're going to watch the playoffs anyway.
So I'm excited about the playoffs just to watch and see what unfold. So we're going to talk about the
playoff picture in Major League Baseball next on Lockdown Cardons. College football fans is time to put your
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Now, like I said earlier, just because playoffs aren't going to include them, Cardinals.
It doesn't mean we as baseball fans have to stop watching, okay?
Labor stuff's coming up.
Who knows when we'll get baseball again after these playoffs are done?
So I think I'm going to milk this one for as much as I can while we got it.
Let's start on the NL side of things where the Phillies, who they always blew it, right?
They gave their fans a few heart palpitations down the stretch,
but clinched the third NL wildcard spot with the 73 win over the raise,
holding off a late search from the Diamondbacks,
which sadly means that our buddies,
Nolan Aronado and Lars Newpar,
are going to be sitting at home just like us.
So seating-wise, number one Brewers,
number two is the Dodgers,
and L.E's champion and number three-seat Atlanta Braves
will host the Phillies for Game One in the Wild Card series
at 1 o'clock St. Louis time on Tuesday.
Braves went nine and four against Philly in the regular season.
Phillies barely made it,
but still have a lot of talent on that roster with Schwerber,
who had 45 home runs tied for the MLB lead,
Bryce Harper,
Tray Turner. You know the names. Pitching wise, Christopher Sanchez, Zach Wheeler,
Jesus Lazzardo was back and pitching at the end there. So I assume he's healthy.
Aaron Nola has been pretty darn good. Number four, Padres, who passed the Cubs in the final
week are going to host Chicago in game one on Tuesday as well for their wild card series.
That's a 1210, St. Louis time start. The Cubs went five in one against the Padres in 2026 and
have likely an LNBP, Pekro Armstrong, leading the way. They also got Alex Breggis.
been back after getting hit in the face by by a foul ball, scary, scary situation.
And I think it was four for four on Sunday with a home run.
So I guess he's seeing the ball just fine.
Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr., Mani Machado, Jackson, Merrill, keys to their offense.
But their strength really is the bullpen.
So if their starters can hang on to a lead or keep it close through five, things can get really,
really tough for opponents in this playoff series facing that Padres bullpen, which is phenomenal.
They got like four closers back there that are so good.
Meanwhile, on the AL side, the Astros clinched the AOS with the Ranger 6-4 lost to the twins of the AAL as the number one seed with Tampa Bay raised.
Number two is the guardians.
That's crazy, right?
Raised guardians get the one and two seed.
That's unbelievable.
AOS champion and number three-seat Astros led by Yordaun Alvarez, who was the AL batting champion at 316.
Second in homers, second in RBI's to Pete Alonzo with 42 and 106 respectfully.
they'll host the surprising Chicago White Sox led by Randall Gritchick in the Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
It's going to be a 4 p.m. start at St. Louis time.
Number four Yankees with that rotation, which on paper sounds like nobody can beat them.
Schlittler, Cole, Freed, Rodon.
They're going to be hosted the Red Sox.
Wilson Contreras, Sunny Gray on the AO Wild Card Series side.
They got a Tuesday night game.
7 o'clock St. Louis time to start on that one.
Aaron Judge is expected to play in this series, but how good will he be?
I don't know.
The guy's been out for most of the season.
So we'll see what happens with him and all the injuries.
When I look at these things, who do I root for?
I'm somebody who roots for the little guy?
Like, I enjoy an underdog story.
So I'm pulling for guys like Tampa Bay and Cleveland and the White Sox.
And outside Brewers.
I'm not saying they're on fans of, maybe I am a fan of the Brewers.
I just like the way they play a game.
And I want the Cardinals to be them.
That's the blueprint.
I want the Cardinals to be the Brewers, but with more postseason success.
That's what I want.
But it is, it's going to be tough, man.
It's hard to believe anyone can top that Dodgers lineup when they have everybody on the playing
and healthy.
Like so many of these guys have been in and out of the lineup this year and in and out of the rotation.
Like what can Shoah Otani offer?
Like, I see the same guy.
He's been hurting a lot here in the second half of the season.
How good is he going to be?
So I don't know.
They got a killer pitching staff.
pole pin. That's the one weakness, right? So we'll see. We'll see. It's why they play the games.
But Dodgers are going for the three Pete this year. So we'll see if it happens.
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