The Birds Are Back In Town.

This Cardinals team is hard to recognize. There's no Albert Pujols. No Tony LaRussa. Not even Lance Berkman. Right fielder Carlos Beltran, the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year, is the cleanup hitter. Embattled starter Chris Carpenter, last year's postseason savior, is 0-2 in 3 starts after missing nearly the entire season. Is this really a team that's still the defending world champion?

Yes. And they may be even better than they were last year.

This 35 year old has revitalized a Cardinals offense that lost its two biggest bats.

Beltran leads the team with 32 home runs. Catcher Yadier Molina leads the team with a .315 batting average. Left fielder Matt Holliday leads the team with 102 RBIs. Kyle Lohse leads the team with a 2.86 ERA. Lance Lynn leads the team with 18 wins. Adam Wainwright leads the team with 184 strikeouts. Jason Motte leads the team with 41 saves. Why is any of this significant? Because for most MLB teams, 1 or 2 people tend to lead their team in nearly all these categories (the only other team like the Cardinals in that respect? Albert Pujols' new club, the Angels...go figure). This just goes to show that the Cardinals have a roster chock full of players that can contribute to the destruction of other teams' playoff hopes and dreams. That in itself is scary enough.

We've seen what the Cards can do, given a chance in October. They managed to get into the playoffs last season after the Braves pulled off their epic collapse, and made handy work of the Phillies in the NLDS and their division rival Brewers in the NLCS before a 7-game World Series against the Rangers that is already being hailed as one of the best, most dramatic and intense Fall Classics of all time. And it hasn't even been a year. It's hard for a team to give a performance so good that it's already considered "one for the ages" before a full 365 days have passed since its completion. So it's easy to understand why this is one team nobody wants to face in the postseason.

After their improbable title run last year, the Cardinals are out to prove it wasn't a fluke.

The Cards will have to settle for a Wild Card spot for the second year in a row, but with the play-in game's inception this season, this Cinderella story may end well before midnight. The Cardinals will face the Braves in Atlanta this Friday to determine which team will move on to the NLDS to face the Nationals. Unfortunately for the Redbirds, they're 1-5 against the Braves this year, and lost 2 of 3 in their only series at Turner Field in 2012. They'll be sending Kyle Lohse to the mound against Kris Medlen, about as mismatched of a pitching match as it gets this year. The Cards far surpass the Braves in all offensive categories, but they're not on their home turf, and that could make the difference in whether they go on another magical run, or if the Braves will avenge themselves.

If you had to pick one player to watch out for with the Cardinals, it would be reigning NLCS and World Series MVP, David Freese. He hasn't had a particularly strong season (.293/20/79), but considering that this is the first year he's played in triple-digit games (his career high was 97 games in last year's regular season), he's gotten hot at just the right time in his career. If the Cards are a team you shouldn't sleep on, you shouldn't even blink when it comes to Freese. He might just get you if you do.

Finally, all the playoff teams are decided. All that's left to do is determine the first round matchups. Be on the lookout for our full playoff coverage starting Friday.