As Tony La Russa said, Chris Carpenter has barely pitched the last two years, and the Cardinals didn’t make the playoffs either year. Now Carpenter is back -- he looked as good as ever this spring -- so does that mean the Cardinals will be back playing October baseball? Perhaps, although you wonder how much the lack of a veteran closer and a defensive downgrade in the middle of the infield will hurt. We should know not to count out a team with La Russa and Albert Pujols, but even with Carpenter’s return this group still goes into the year with questions.