St. Louis Cardinals

So the Redbirds are pretty much the last team of 2009 that's basically a lock for the playoffs. The three remaining playoff spots (AL Wild Card, Al Central, and NL Wild Card) look like they all might go down to the wire. For the really close races, I'll try and do something a little more interesting than just single team overviews. So enjoy the last true position by position rundown of '09:

St. Louis Cardinals
72-54
NL CENTRAL (1st place out of 6)

LINEUP

2B Skip Schumaker

CF Colby Rasmus

1B Albert Pujols

LF Matt Holliday
RF Ryan Ludwick

3B Mark DeRosa

C Yadier Molina

SS Brendan Ryan

BENCH

OF Rick Ankiel

IF Julio Lugo

IF Khalil Greene

ROTATION

Chris Carpenter

Adam Wainwright

Joel Pineiro

Kyle Lohse

John Smoltz/Mitchell Boggs

BULLPEN

Ryan Franklin (CL)

Kyle McClellan

Trever Miller

Jason Motte

Dennys Reyes

Brad Thompson

Manager: Tony La Russa

General Manager: John Mozeliak

Owner: William DeWitt, Jr.

Payroll: $87,703,409 (13th out of 30 teams)

Tony La Russa is one of the most successful managers in all of baseball: he has four manager of the year awards, and has won the most games of any active manager (placing him third on the all time list). He has achieved his success in unique and intriguing ways: after he was finished as a player, he earned his J.D. and passed the bar exam, but decided on a career as a manager rather than a lawyer. Throughout a great deal of the 2007 season, La Russa batted his pitcher 8th in the order rather than the traditional 9th. Furthermore, three of the pitchers in his 2007 rotation (Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper, and Todd Wellemeyer) had not started a single game among them prior to 2007. Controversy swirls around La Russa on and off the field: in the same year he was also arrested for a DUI. Earlier this year he was involved in a lawsuit against Twitter over a false profile in his name that caused considerable emotional stress.

Given his unpredictable nature, it's sometimes hard to pin down a consistent starting lineup for La Russa's Cardinals. He juggles three players between his two middle infield spots (Skip Schumaker, a converted left fielder, at second base, Brendan Ryan at shortstop, and new acquisition Julio Lugo who plays either position). Center field is a toss-up between rookie Colby Rasmus and converted pitcher Rick Ankiel. Third base has had some stability lately, thanks to the trade with the Indians for Mark DeRosa, but before the deal, La Russa used four different guys at the hot corner. La Russa also likes to switch up where people hit in the batting order. Except for the middle of the order (Pujols, Holliday, Ludwick), it's just as hard to determine who will bat where on any given day.

What hasn't been unpredictable about La Russa's team is the quality baseball they have played this season. Their lineup is bolstered by Albert Pujols's 5th season with at least 40 home runs, a middle infield that's hitting .296, and a performance by new acquisition Matt Holliday that would make any A's fan bitter. If the numbers he put up while wearing the Green and Gold even approached the .398 AVG/ .457 OBP/ .694 SLG he's hitting for the Cardinals, the A's very well might still be in contention. Of course he did make the move to the less talented of the two leagues while also escaping one of the most notorious pitchers' parks in the sport, and these two factors undoubtedly explain part of his resurgence. It just would have been nice to see ONE of Billy Beane's big offseason acquisitions perform as advertised while still with the A's.

Gotta be happy for the Cardinals, though. They've left the heavily favored Cubs totally in the dust, and they did it with a pitching staff full of question marks and also-rans. I mentioned that Wainwright and Wellemeyer spent their careers until 2007 in the bullpen; it looks like the latter of the two is headed back there, while the former has been lights out this year. Chris Carpenter, who played in only 5 games combined over the last two seasons, is currently leading the league in wins and ERA. Joel Pineiro's ERA is down two full points from last season (3.15 from 5.15). And the acquisition of John Smoltz gives them a future hall of famer in the rotation to complement youngster Mitchell Boggs.

Their experiment of using a couple of young, inexperienced relievers in a closer-by-committee role has failed - Jason Motte has an ERA approaching 6 and Chris Perez was traded to the Indians - but veteran Ryan Franklin has blossomed into one of the most dominating closers in the game, after many years as a decent starter. Add in setup man Kyle McClellan, LOOGYs Trever Miller and Dennys Reyes, and provisional member of Australia's World Baseball Classic squad Blake Hawksworth, the Cardinals' bullpen works like a well-oiled machine.

The Cubs this year had a lineup filled with potential offensive stars and a rotation consisting of mostly high profile hurlers. But most of them either struggled or underperformed and the team never took off like most commentators expected. The Cardinals this year are a testament to how (basically) one star hitter (Pujols), a couple of lights-out starters (Carpenter and Wainwright), and a dominant closer (Franklin) can carry a team to a grand season. They say pitching wins in the playoffs, and the Redbirds still have a couple of holes in that department, but based on the quality of his season and what his performance has done for his team, I'd venture an addendum to the old saw: Pitching and/or Pujols wins in the playoffs. (His line in postseason play is .323/.429/.593 with 13 HR and 35 RBI in 53 games.)

PREDICTION: If my addendum is correct, they could win the Division Series. If old wisdom prevails, I don't think they'll make it out of the first round.