This news is about as surprising as Chris Carpenter getting the Game 1 assignment, but general manager John Mozeliak indicated that the Cardinals will stick with a 12-man pitching staff for the World Series.
On most teams 12 pitchers are overkill during the playoffs, when the rotation shortens and setup men and closers dominate the bullpen workload, but considering how short manager Tony La Russa’s hook has been with starters and how much he loves to play matchups with relievers it makes sense for St. Louis.
As for who’ll get the final couple spots in the eight-reliever bullpen, that remains to be seen after the Cardinals used Jake Westbrook as a long man in the NLDS only to replace him with Kyle McClellan in the NLCS.