St Louis Cardinals: An Unlikely Playoff Contender Could Win All Again

As post-season teams go, the St. Louis Cardinals team is often a "weakie" during the regular season. That makes them a somewhat unlikely playoff contender.

In 2006, for instance, they topped the National League Central division with all of 83 wins. When they went to the World Series later in the season, they were the team with the second worst season record ever to do so (and the worst record ever to win it).

In 2011, the Cardinals did a bit better in the regular season, winning a total of 90 games. That earned them a "wild card" slot, edging out the Atlanta Braves. But they were a "true" wild card, winning fewer games than any of the division leaders.

This was not a case where a "second place" team in an unusually strong division actually had a better record than one or both of the other division leaders (an injustice that the wild card system was meant to rectify).

But if the Cardinals get to the post season, they tend to do very well there. They've won 10 World Series, more than any other National League team, and more than any other team except the New York Yankees.

They are experienced post season players, and they have a core of veterans that do better under the klieg lights of the post season than during the grind of the regular season.

With an offense led by the likes of Albert Pujols, the Cardinals ranked fourth in this category in 2011 and sixth in 2006, basically play-off material. But their pitching during both seasons was nothing to write home about, which is why the team barely made the wildcard this year, and barely topped .500 in 2006.

It is otherwise in the post season and the pitching "tightens up" to match the team's hitting. Earlier this October, Chris Carpenter outdueled the Phillies' Roy Halladay (who was pitching normally, for him) in a 1-0 shut out. That's the kind of thing that one does not usually see from him during the regular season (although he posted two shut outs in September, on the way to the post season).

In 2006, the Cardinals' ERA sank to 2.68 in the post season, and 2.05 in the World Series (against the Detroit Tigers). Carpenter had a 0.00 ERA in that World Series, with Anthony Reyes and Jeff Weaver not far behind him.

It's at least within the realm of possibility that the Cardinals will face the Tigers again in the 2011 World Series, although the Texas Rangers, with a 2-0 ACLS lead, is the more likely opponent.

But if the Tigers are underdogs to win their pennant, the Cardinals are not, having split two games with the Milwaukee Brewers in the other team's park. The two teams were 9-9, dead even, in the season series.

The Cardinals' hitting went true to form in both games, with six runs in the first (enough to win most games), and 12 runs in the second. But only the latter featured a typical post-season pitching performance, which gave up only three runs.