St. Louis Cardinals: 5 Reasons Why They Can Repeat as World Champions

The St. Louis Cardinals have continued their winning ways in 2012, even after losing Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa during the offseason.

With Mike Matheny at the helm and a new demeanor in the clubhouse, the Cardinals haven't skipped a beat.

Prior to Wednesday's action, the Cardinals are 24-19 and 0.5 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central.

The Cards were an underdog Wild Card team last season, but there's plenty of reason to believe that they could be a World Series favorite this year if they win the division.

I think the Cardinals have a legitimate shot at becoming back-to-back champions, and here's why.

Depth

The Cardinals have always been known for having solid depth, but that depth is really proving itself useful early on this season.

When Chris Carpenter went down with an injury, Lance Lynn stepped up.

When Lance Berkman went down, Allen Craig stepped up.

When Craig went down, Matt Carpenter stepped up.

Now that Berkman has since gone down again—and likely for a while—Matt Adams has risen to the occasion.

Being able to play well when your name is penciled into the lineup is huge, and the Cardinals have been lucky enough to capitalize on solid play from their bench guys.

Starting Pitching

We all knew coming into the season that the Cardinals' rotation was solid, but who knew that the leader of the squad would be Lance Lynn?

He's been far and away the best pitcher on the team thus far, owning an ERA of 2.31 and a 6-1 record. Opponents are hitting just .198 against him.

The rest of the rotation has been stellar as well.

Kyle Lohse owns an ERA of 2.91 with five wins, Jaime Garcia has a 3.55 ERA with three wins, Jake Westbrook has a 2.41 ERA with four wins and Adam Wainwright seems to have turned his season around with the shutout he tossed Tuesday night at San Diego.

Help is on the way, of course, as Chris Carpenter will likely return at some point this season.

Barring a trade, it will be interesting to see who he replaces.

With Lynn pitching so well, it'll be hard to justify taking him out of the rotation.

Carlos Beltran

When the Cardinals signed Carlos Beltran to a two-year, $26 million contract this offseason, they were expecting big things from him.

So far, he's exceeded even their expectations.

He currently leads the National League with 13 home runs, he's driven in 35 runs and has put together a slash line of .293/.404/.607. He's even stolen five bases.

There's no doubt he's on his way to being an All-Star, and he may even have an outside shot at winning the NL MVP award if he keeps up this insane level of production.

With a healthy Beltran in the middle of the lineup, the Cardinals' offense can keep up with any other offense in the league.

Players Returning from Injury

Currently, Berkman, Carpenter, Craig, Jon Jay, Scott Linebrink and Kyle McClellan are all on the 15-day disabled list for various different injuries.

Of the group, Berkman is the only one expected to not return this season.

With so many key players returning from injury at some point during the season, the Cardinals won't have to make any midseason acquisitions. They'll be gaining value from their returning players.

I see Jay as the key returning player, though.

He was hitting incredibly through 27 games—.343/.395/.438, two homers, eight RBI—and a breakout season from him could be key.

They're Motivated

There's no doubting the fact that Pujols and LaRussa were important aspects of last season's championship team.

The Cardinals have since moved into the post-Pujols/LaRussa era, and they want to prove to the baseball world that they can be a championship team without them.

They are a well-balanced team with plenty of depth and a great mix of young players and older veterans, so repeating as World Champs really isn't out of the question.

For now at least, the Cardinals look like they can match up with any team in baseball.

Come October, it may be different.

That being said, don't look at the Cardinals as underdogs this season, as they've proved that they have what it takes to win the World Series once again.