If you would have asked the average baseball fan at the end of September if the St. Louis Cardinals would be in this years Fall Classic, they would have most likely have let out a chuckle! Nonetheless, the once slumping Cards are right in the thick of it all, once again! Despite all of the critics leaving them out of the ULTIMATE party, they're out to prove themselves worthy and prove them all wrong! Having said this, I'll go into my reasons I believe they will persevere!

1. EXPERIENCE

This team of veterans is amped up and ready to make their respective baseball careers, successful ones! Guys like Jim Edmonds, So Taguchi, Jeff Suppan, and Scotty Rolen's World Series Title clock is ticking as we speak! This could be these individuals last resort for a World Series ring and they know it! Scott Spezio is another wiley veteran who has been getting it done with an OBSCENE batting average with runners in scoring position during the post-season. He boasts a near .700 lifetime average and has came up clutch all of his post-season career. So Taguchi is a PERFECT 1.000 in this years post-season with two home runs and Jeff Suppan collected the M.V.P. trophy in the Championship series while only giving up a minuscule one run in fifteen innings! The Tigers have a VERY young, inexperienced team and I believe that will be the straw that breaks the Tigers back.

2. LAY-OFF FROM THE PLAYOFFS

The Tigers have been sitting back patiently waiting for an opponent for exactly ONE week now! Some people say that the rested team is at an advantage, some say the team with the most recent momentum will persevere. I side with the team who is most gelled before the series starts. That team in this case is the Cardinals. Sure, Leyland most likely has them prepared to play hard, but game time experience with the least amount of layoff in between is the favored team in baseball in my opinion.

3. ALBERT PUJOLS

This is the series that Albert will make it happen! He has been in a rut for some time through the playoffs, but I can only imagine that these pitchers can keep a SUPERB bat such as Pujols, down for too long! He has never in his career been in a slump any longer than a week and that week has been over for a FEW days now!

4. Bullpen

The bullpen was solid through the NLCS besides game four when they had to fill in for five innings after Reyes's quick exit. As long as the Cardinals starters (who have been much better as of late) can at least grind out six quality innings, the bullpen will shut the door as usual!

5. KARMA

Ohhhh yes, you thought I'd leave it out of this article? Noooooo way! The stars are lined up for my Cardinals, just as they are once or twice EVERY other decade! This IS the other decade, and we're running out of time before the BIG break-up! This veteran team has a fair amount of contracts ready to expire, and MUST get it done for their own benefit with future contracts and overall success!

My prediction: Cardinals in 6