The Redbirds are argubly the best story in baseball in 2008.  LaRussa’s crew was picked by many to be a 100 loss team and the “DoomBirds” were out in full force before the season began. What has happened instead has been astounding. The Cardinals are in the thick of the wild card race despite not making a single major move before or during the season, unless you count scarfing Felipe Lopez off the waiver wire after the Nats cut him! 

The Cardinals are one of those teams that I could actually write about 20 top stories but of course the format limits me to five.  So as a result, I will cherrypick the Top 5 stories of the St Louis Cardinals:

1. Do Not Draft Albert Pujois-Before the season he was on everybody’s DND list because of the bad elbow and the Cardinals inpending flop of a season.  Fast forward to today and he is leading the major league in batting average and is hitting for power and driving in runs like he always has plus giving you a little bit of stolen bases, 7, as well. 
2. Who is Ryan Ludwick-30 Home Runs and a .300 hitter at age 30!?!?  You have got to be kidding me.  Ludwick was not even drafted in most mixed leagues and was only a flyer shot in most NL only leagues before the season.  Now he is the player that fantasy owners crow about the most as their exclusive find.  Throw sabermetrics and scouting out the window on this one, Ludwick has came out of the boondocks to be the biggest suprise of 2008.
3. Troy Glaus is Healthy-Everyone knows this guy can hit for power but who would have trusted him as an everyday Third Basemen after he left Toronto in the Scott Rolen trade.  Sometimes a change of scenery is needed for everyone, and Glaus is a prime example.  Getting away from that concrete field in Toronto to the natural grass of Busch Stadium has been a career saver for Glaus and he has responded with a solid season and is on pace for 100 plus RBIs.
4. Dave Duncan Cements his Place as the Best Pitching Coach in Baseball-In the preseason the Cardinals rotation was supposed to include  Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Matt Clement, Adam Wainwright, and Joel Pineiro.  Four of those five have spent significant time on the DL yet the Cardinals have continued to win ballgames.  The closer was supposed to be Jason Isringhausen and he has spent considerable time on the injury list as well.  What Duncan has done with Kyle Lohse, Todd Wellemeyer, and Braden Looper is just short of a miracle.  None of these guys were drafted in fantasy baseball but all of them are helping teams win their leagues.  Plus Chris Perez is settling down an overworked bullpen down the stretch.
5. The .300 Triplets-Raise your hand if you knew that Aaron Miles, Yadier Molina, and Skip Schumaker would all be hitting over .300 at the end of August before the season started.  These No-name players have quietly put together solid seasons and have set the table for the bigger hitters in the Cardinal order.