Another important key to the 2009 Cardinals is the continued dominance of right fielder Ryan Ludwick. He simply murdered the ball all season last year, and is expected to have an even better year this time around. Those are awfully lofty expectations of a player that has never shown that type of hitting prowess in the past. It seems nearly impossible for him to repeat his performance last season. To be fair, however, we all said that he would slow down all of last year. He never did.

If you put that type of hitter in the same lineup with Albert Pujols, runs will not be a problem. The Cardinals also picked up free swinging shortstop Khalil Greene. Greene is a player that might just prosper in the St Louis after coming over from the Padres spacious confines. Look for Greene to hit plenty of home runs, but have a low average overall. Still, he should add some run production to the mix.

Rick Ankiel is another wild card. The story of Ankiel is old news to many, but it is still remarkable. He started as a pitcher and after falling out of favor at that, he moved to the outfield and worked his way up. He is now one of the most feared power bats in the National League. If he can find that groove that he gets into sometimes, the Cardinals will be tough to outscore.

The one major question mark for the Cardinals is the starting pitching. They have some outstanding talent with Adam Wainwright, Joel Pineiro, Chris Carpenter, Kyle Lohse, and Todd Wellemeyer. Each of these starters have shown they can be dominant, though each of them have also shown themselves to be up and down. They all have suffered through injuries as well. How well they rebound, and how many of them are “on” during a given stretch will largely determine the Cardinals fate.

St Louis should be able to score enough runs to win on any given night, and the pitching is highly capable of producing outstanding starts each time out. The pieces are in place, and they could be ready to contend once again. If Ankiel and Ludwick continue to perform, then this team might be the one to beat in the National League.