The move is somewhat surprising – I wrote in the Post-Dispatch this week that Matt Carpenter should start Game 1 – but Carp was the odd man out with Kolten Wong's return to action.
Without Carp, that's one fewer potential extra-base hitter out of the lineup -- for a team that doesn't produce much offense to begin with.
“We look at this lineup holistically,” manager Mike Shildt said before Thursday's Game 1 against the Braves in the National League Division Series. “A lot of people look at it offensively, which is reasonable. We've got to score runs.