SchumakerDiveYou didn't think Tony La Russa was going into the World Series quietly, did you?

Of course not. With the first pitch of Game 1 slated for Wednesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals skipper is already set to push a few buttons in hopes of solidifying his World Series roster.

As Matthew Leach of MLB.com reports, La Russa and his staff have elected to re-add the versatile Skip Schumaker (pictured above) and starting pitcher Jake Westbrook to their roster after both sat out their NLCS victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Both men were included on the NLDS roster. Schumaker started three games against Philadelphia Phillies right-handers Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt, going 6 for 10 with three RBIs before leaving Game 5 with an oblique strain. Westbrook did not see action in the NLDS, and his removal from the NLCS roster was strictly a personnel decision.

[Related: Do Cards or Rangers have the edge in the World Series?]

They will take the roster spots of outfielder Adron Chambers and reliever

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Congratulations are in order for the St. Louis Cardinals after winning the National League pennant in six games against the Milwaukee Brewers. Good luck and best wishes are also in order, because the reward for their achievement is a trip to the World Series and a meeting with the buzz saw known as the Texas Rangers.

I don't think anyone would deny that this is an uphill battle for the Cardinals. The Rangers have been an unstoppable force in the postseason offensively, sending one weapon after another to the plate. But the Cardinals have been fighting uphill for the better part of two months, so this challenge will be nothing new to them. And now that their climb is nearly complete, it would be foolish to assume their momentum can't carry them all the way to the top.

Here are the five reasons why St. Louis can overcome the Rangers' strengths, expose their weaknesses, and shock the world with a World Series victory.

1. Chris Carpenter is available for two starts and possibly more:

DejectedSausagesThe reaction of Milwaukee's famous racing sausages says it all. Things went south for their beloved Milwaukee Brewers — and they went south quickly and decisively.

When you hear the terms "collapse" and "meltdown" used in sports, you might think more along the lines of what we witnessed in the regular season with the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves blowing significant leads in their respective wild-card races. While that's absolutely true, I think we should also apply those terms to describe the Brewers' exit from the 2011 postseason at the hands of the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

It was not pretty. At all.

As we mentioned coming out of their lackluster performance in Game 5, the Brewers weren't playing particularly good baseball as far back as Game 2. But they really ramped up the stink on Friday night at Busch Stadium, and then went out with a resounding thud on Sunday night in front of nearly 40,000 disappointed fans (there were a few Redbirds fans there, too) at

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Let's be honest: Apart from Randy Wolf's performance in Game 4, the Milwaukee Brewers are not playing well, at all, in any phase of the game. It's a wonder to me they're even in a position to go back home, win two games, and find themselves in the World Series. But there's exactly where they are, so credit to them.

Still, they aren't going to pull off those two victories, regardless of where they're playing, unless they step up as a team on every level. And the place for them to start is offensively.

Yes, the defense has been embarrassing, and the pitching has also faltered a bit, but this team's identity is scoring runs. Aside from ambushing Jaime Garcia for six runs in the fifth inning, helping them steal Game 1, the Brewers offense hasn't produced anywhere near its potential, and obviously not enough (2.75 runs a game) to cover their flaws elsewhere.

It's not too late for them to fix that, and I don't mind pointing out what I think they need to do better on Sunday night to create

HamiltonStrainThose tuning into the postseason expecting to see a power display from Josh Hamilton have been disappointed so far.

Through nine games and 39 plate appearances, the Texas Rangers slugger — who connected for 25 homers in 121 games during the regular season — has yet to go yard in the first two rounds against Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers pitching. If you look back even further, you'll find that Hamilton has hit only two home runs since Sept. 18.

That's a fairly significant power outage for a hitter of Hamilton's caliber. One that probably comes with some sort of underlying circumstance.

As we learned on Thursday, there indeed is a good explanation for his extended power slump. According to Hamilton, he's been playing through a painful left groin strain for about the last month, which is sapping his strength at the plate.

As Hamilton explained it, he's able to play through the discomfort, but since the strain is to his back leg, it has limited the most important part of his game.

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Kyle Lohse versus Randy Wolf might be the furthest thing from an exciting postseason pitching matchup, but these are the two men the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers will turn to for Thursday night's Game 4 at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis grabbed the lead in the series with their 4-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday. A huge win for them, which sets up an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 advantage, while leaving open the possibility of not returning to Milwaukee. On the flip side, the Brewers desperately need to even this series so that regardless of Game 5's result, they will have a chance to win the NLCS at Miller Park. It's a pivotal contest.

In order for each team to get their desired result, they will undoubtedly need big bounce-back starts from Lohse and Wolf. Both are two veteran starting pitchers that filled their roles as middle-of-rotation arms more than admirably during the regular season, but suffered ugly, confidence-shaking losses — at least among their fan bases —

BuschSeatingThe rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers is reaching unprecedented levels at this point. In addition to the on-field incidents such as exchanging beanballs and  complaints about scoreboard lighting, we can now add family seating arrangements to that growing list.

As Amy K. Nelson of ESPN reports, the Brewers let their dissatisfaction be heard when they arrived to Busch Stadium on Wednesday and learned about the strange allocation of some 350 tickets allotted to their family members for the next three games in the NLCS.

Of those tickets allotted, Nelson reports 130 to 150 will be seated comfortably in a party suite down the right-field line, with indoor and outdoor seating, and food beverage services. However, the remaining 200 tickets are spread randomly throughout the ballpark, with family members being broken down into much smaller groups.

Naturally that raises security concerns for players, with last season's incidents at Yankee Stadium involving family

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Major League Baseball is having a difficult time figuring out this whole weather forecasting thing.

As you know, MLB suffered through quite an embarrassing ordeal in Game 1 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium, misreading the forecast and ultimately having a marquee Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia pitching matchup washed away less than two innings in. That game ended up being suspended and continued the following day, which certainly had a negative effect on both team's pitching plans, as well as travel plans for both them and the fans.

They had another rough night on Saturday, as two separate rainfalls in Game 1 of the ALCS caused two extended rain delays during the top of the fifth inning. Texas Rangers starter C.J. Wilson returned to the mound after the first one and clearly struggled to regain his rhythm. Verlander was again on the mound for Detroit, and he was unable to return after the second delay.

With forecasts not looking good for Sunday night, commissioner Bud Selig went into