ST. LOUIS -- The milestones have been meaningful for Dakota Hudson -- his first time playing catch at Spring Training, his first time throwing off a mound, facing live hitters and making a rehab appearance. His return to the big league mound in Chicago on Sept. 24 was an important step, showing the Cardinals’ brass he can pitch capably.

Achieving milestones kept his focus during the arduous recovery from Tommy John surgery. But none meant much more than Friday night at Busch Stadium.

In his first start in over a year, Hudson threw five shutout innings in the Cardinals’ 4-3 walk-off victory over the Cubs, won on Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. The right-hander was in line for the win when he exited, aided by a pair of home runs from red-hot Tyler O’Neill, until the Cubs rallied in the sixth.

“Last year at this point I was sitting on my couch in a cast, and we were about to go play the Padres [in the Wild Card round],” Hudson said. “The fact that I'm back and able to play ... it's been incredible. I feel very blessed to be here.”

Chief among Hudson’s accomplishments was not a splashy box score, though it was commendable, scattering just four baserunners against as many strikeouts on 70 pitches. Rather, it was the trademark pedigree the righty displayed, with eight groundball outs from the sinkerballer.

“What you should be impressed about is the fact that he was able to do it and get to this point and get through all the rehab,” said manager Mike Shildt. “He did his work to get here, and he's a really special young man with a lot of talent and a lot of drive. Really proud of him, and he showed up and pitched well again tonight.”

The impressive performance propelled the expectations and hopes of what Hudson can do in the postseason as the Cardinals finalize plans for him and Jack Flaherty ahead of the Wild Card Game on Wednesday.

“Their health is going to be first and foremost on how we think through this,” said president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. “The way you're trying to balance out your roster is, can you carry individuals that you can give an extra day or two days off to get a postseason run, and it really then depends on how your starting pitching sets up. As we sort of think through that, that's going to be critical in what we set it up for.”

That’s less of an issue for the one-game Wild Card, where days of rest is relatively unimportant and each team has the luxury -- though complicated -- of throwing the kitchen sink at the opponent. But the Cardinals, as Mozeliak later acknowledged, have more to sort through when working toward a possible NLDS roster, with off-days both a concern and an opportunity to strategize.

Can either pitch on back-to-back days? Hudson likely can not, given both his long recovery and his routine to being built up as a starter. Flaherty, too, has yet to do so since being moved to the bullpen, as the Cardinals have been excruciatingly cautious with his buildup and regime in his first extended time as a reliever.

If the Cardinals call on Hudson, which is looking likely, he’s ready to answer.

“I saw myself on the [postseason] roster from the time I had Tommy John,” Hudson said. “It's been a long road to get there and it's hard to say that, but that's been the goal. That's what drove the whole rehab process.”

O’Neill’s huge game

Only two players in Cardinals history have had a multihomer game and added a double and a stolen base.

One was Tyler Greene in 2012. The other was O’Neill on Friday night. And none have done so while adding an outfield assist, which O’Neill also accomplished, keeping the score tied in the ninth inning.

"It kind of felt like a video game,” Hudson said.

That was the sort of night O’Neill put together against the Cubs, lofting his 33rd and 34th homers of the season to match Nolan Arenado for the team lead. What’s more, no one in MLB has more home runs than O’Neill’s 13 since the start of September.

Only Mark McGwire has more in the season’s final month in franchise history.

“I’ll tell you one thing, it was loud,” Shildt said of O’Neill’s night. “ … He's got some abilities, clearly a five-tool player -- on display tonight.”

The only thing carrying more momentum into the postseason than O’Neill are the Cardinals en masse. Those two components churning at once -- with the Cardinals’ 23 wins since the start of September rocketing them to 90 on the year -- make both entities a scary reality to be faced with on Wednesday.