World Series 2011: 5 Reasons the St. Louis Cardinals Have the Advantage

The St. Louis Cardinals are heading to the 2011 World Series, and thanks to a Prince Fielder home run at the 2011 All-Star Game, they have home field advantage. 

On Aug. 24th, the same St. Louis Cardinals were 10.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the wild-card spot in the playoffs. They scraped and clawed their way into contention in late September and the rest was history.

They won the Wild Card (no, Atlanta did not lose it) and then went on to beat Philadelphia and Milwaukee, the two best teams in the National League.

Now, Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa find themselves exactly where any ball player and manager want to be. They're at home for game one of the World Series.

As many people have said before, and continue to say, the MLB Playoffs are never about the best team; they are about the hot team. St. Louis is that team.

Throwing that into consideration, here are five reasons the St. Louis Cardinals have the advantage in the series. 

Reason 1: Chris Carpenter

The St. Louis Cardinals have to like their odds of any game when their ace, and former Cy Young winner, is on the mound at home. Let's face it, Carpenter is hot right now.

He's been good, not great, this postseason but he has shown plenty signs of dominance and that's truly all that matters. The first start against Philadelphia was the one he would rather forget. He surrendered four earned runs over just three innings pitched and received a no decision.

He bounced back though, in the unforgettable NLDS Game 5 and out-dueled Roy Halladay while pitching a complete game three hit shutout. 

Carpenter was solid at home this year boasting a 4-3 record but more importantly a 3.05 ERA having a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio (31 walks and 93 putouts).

Reason 2: Tony La Russa

I mean no disrespect to Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington who for two consecutive years managed his way into the World Series impressively. If you put a gun up to my head and asked me to pick a manager in this series, I'm going with Tony La Russa.

La Russa is both feared and loved in the world of baseball but more than anything he is respected. He has left his stamp on this game for four consecutive decades. His uncanny ability to instill focus and determination in a clubhouse is unparalleled. 

He loves and understands the game and it shows on a nightly basis. Plenty of credit for this remarkable run can be given to the relievers in the bullpen or the hot bats but at the end of the day, the man behind center, so to speak, has always been Tony La Russa.

A natural leader and a true inspiration.

Reason 3: David Freese

If you had told me, or anyone in the Cardinals organization, at the start of the postseason that David Freese would have a slide in this article before Albert Pujols would, I (and they) would have laughed it off.

Freese is hot, as is his team. A big reason the team is hot is due to his clutch hitting and power numbers in these last 11 games. Just to remind everyone again, the key to postseason baseball is not who is the best, but who is the hottest. I want Freese in my corner.

His OPS this postseason is 1.315 compared to Texas Rangers hot bat Nelson Cruz, whose OPS is only 1.084. Freese had three home runs and nine RBIs in the Philadelphia series, carrying the team every time they needed to be carried. 

Freese is righty at the plate and facing lefty C.J. Wilson Wednesday night, and I expect more big things from the surprise star.

4. Cardinals Bullpen

In the six-game series against Milwaukee, the St. Louis starters only pitched 25.1 innings. For all of you that aren't math majors, that means the St. Louis bullpen pitched 28.2 innings of lights out ball.

Just how "lights out" were they? The bullpen had a combined ERA of 1.9 throughout the series. They struck out 21 batters combined while only giving up 15 hits. 

What these guys really did, does not show up in a box score. They stopped the bleeding immediately, they helped their starters and their teammates stay strong and they carried the emotional weight of the series so the guys around them didn't have too.

The heart and soul of the pen can be found within closer Jason Motte. Motte has gone eight innings this postseason, striking out seven, allowing one hit  and saving four games.

Motte is primed and ready to go. 

Reason 5: Cardinal Experience

Hardly anything in the world of sports compares to the unquestioned intangibles that come with a veteran presence in the dugout. Luckily, the St. Louis Cardinals have quite a few this season.

Yadier Molina, behind the plate, comes from a family full of ballplayers and his tenure with the Cardinals has been a special one. He has been behind the plate for the majority of the ups and downs since 2005 and his leadership is always welcomed.

Couple his long tenure on the team with new additions like Lance Berkman (comeback player of the year) and Rafael Furcal and St. Louis has something Texas can only hope to match, experience and confidence. 

The Cardinals have home field advantage in the World Series in addition to the these five things going for them which is why I have them winning it all in seven games.