The St Louis Cardinals upset the Atlanta Braves in the Wildcard round and have advanced to the NLDS where they’ll face the 98 win Washington Nationals.
The Nationals are entering their first post season in their franchise’s history, and also have the misfortune of not having Stephen Strasburg. Even without Strasburg’s presence the Nationals still should be considered the favorites in the series, their depth all around outweighs that of the St Louis Cardinals.
With Strasburg gone the Nationals will have to rely on Gio Gonzalez to be their ace and set the momentum for the post season journey. While the Cardinals, too have the disadvantage of not having Pujols still on the team they do have the rest of the core that took them to a world series last season. Yadier Molina, David Freese, Matt Holliday and Jason Motte. The additions of Carlos Beltran and last year’s late pickup of Rafal Furcal (who’s out due to injury) all carry something that the Nationals don’t have, and that’s experience. The Nationals pitching rotation remains inexperienced in the post season, despite their regular season performances.
Head to head despite the Nationals edge in the regular season and their youth, there’s just something bout the Cardinals that you can’t discount in the post season. They’re a team that catches fire down the stretch and after that dominating performance in Atlanta I’m tempted to give the Cards the edge, but that’s not to write off the Nationals. So I’ll pick the Cardinals in 5.