World Series preview

2011-10-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

When the news was released that Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals' ace and possible Cy Young candidate, would be out for the entire season, no one, including myself, expected the Cardinals' to make much noise this year. 97 wins and 76 losses later, the Cardinals find themselves four wins away from their second World Series title in six years. However, there's one little problem: the Texas Rangers. The explosive-offense, lights-out-bullpen, red-hot-Texas Rangers. If the Cardinals were to march into the playoffs after what was one of the most memorable Septembers in baseball history and knock off the Phillies, the Brewers, and the Rangers, then I will be all but forced to admit they deserved to be in the World Series, or even the playoffs for that matter.

The Cardinals will certainly have their hands full trying to contain a lineup that just put up 39 runs in six games (6.5 runs/game) against a sound Detroit Tigers' pitching staff. And to go along with it, it's not like the Cardinals have a rotation to be all that confident in. Yes Chris Carpenter is a very solid pitcher, but he's not exactly as young as he was in 2006; who knows if he'll run out of gas or not. But other than Carpenter, the Cardinals really don't have much to cheer about. Garcia is young and talented but for the most part inexperienced and tires rather easily (ie. Game 3 against the Phillies, he ran out of gas). Jackson is as erratic as you can get. One game he'll come out and toss a no-no, and the next he'll come out and allow the record for most runs in baseball history (exaggeration). Lohse, well, we saw all there was to see from him in Game 1 against the Phillies. I wouldn't be surprised if Nelson Cruz matches his ALCS numbers against the Cardinals. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he surpasses them.

The Rangers are a different story when it comes to pitching. Other than C.J. Wilson, they don't have another "great" pitcher. However, they do have guys that they know will come out and give them a good, quality start, and even if they fail to do so, the Rangers have a few guys in their 'pen that can shut you down. If the Cardinals are trailing heading into the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning, good luck trying to get to Uehara, Adams, Ogando, or Feliz.

Just like in their two previous series, the Cardinals will be playing as "the underdog." So far, they don't really seem to mind. We'll see how they feel about it after the series is over. Rangers in 6.

Wild Pitch

World Series preview