MLB Playoffs: 3 Reasons to Watch for a St. Louis Upset vs. Philadelphia

Two nights ago the Philadelphia Phillies finished off the Atlanta Braves with a 4-3 score that booted them out of of the playoffs after a disastrous collapse.

The Philadelphia team ended the year with more regular season wins (102) than ever before and Charlie Manuel now holds the title for most wins in Phillies history.

That's all nice and wonderful, but more importantly it knocked the Braves out of the postseason. It opened the door for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Will winning come back to haunt the Phillies?

Here are three reasons to watch for a St. Louis upset over Philadelphia.

1. Starting Pitching

There is absolutely no denying that the Phillies have one of the best pitching rotations Major League Baseball has ever seen.

They have three pitchers in Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt who have Cy Young ability. Cole Hamels has led the team to a World Series. Vance Worley is a rising stud.

The Cardinals may not have the big names and prestige, but they have actually been more effective when the teams have met this season.

Chris Carpenter and Jamie Garcia each pitched 15 innings and allowed just a .60 ERA. Kyle Loeshe's 15.33 innings were no less impressive, allowing just a 1.76 ERA.

The Phillies were less impressive. The only pitcher who allowed under a 3.00 ERA was Cliff Lee.

This could be one of the surprising keys that may catch people off guard.

2. Lineup

The reason for the above stats isn't that the Cardinals have better pitching than the Phillies.

The success has come because they have better batters. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday may get all of the attention, but the entire Cardinals lineup is one to fear.

As a team, St. Louis has an on-base slugging (OPS) of .766. The Phillies OPS is .717.

The stat puts St. Louis at the top in the National League.

3. Confidence

Now, I'm not suggesting that the Phillies aren't a confident team. What I'm saying is that the Cardinals are much more confident right now.

St. Louis had to pull off miracles to make the playoffs.

Here they are. Despite the odds the Cardinals are set to face the Phillies tomorrow night in the first game of the series.

The organization is flying high right now. Nobody thought they'd be here a month ago.

To add to it, the Cardinals dominated the Phillies in a series earlier in the month just to keep their hopes alive.

The 6-3 regular season record has to be an extra ego boost heading into the games.