The St. Louis Cardinals won 205 games in the past two seasons, more than any other team in the major leagues.

They put together consecutive 100-win seasons, and consecutive National League Central Division titles. They advanced to the World Series in 2004 and the National League Championship Series in 2005.

And entering the 2006 season, the Cardinals look like early favorites to make it three consecutive division titles.

The Cardinals' best weapon is Albert Pujols, perhaps the most consistently impressive young player in the game. Pujols, a first baseman, just turned 26 in January, but already has 201 career home runs and 621 RBI to go with a .332 batting average.

In each of his first five major league seasons, Pujols played at least 154 games, scored 110-plus runs, drove in 115-plus runs, and had at least 34 home runs and doubles. He has never hit below .314.

In October, after Pujols' long home run off Astros closer Brad Lidge extended the NLCS to six games, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa compared Pujols to the top hitters in baseball.

"Here again, not that he is the very best, but there's nobody better," La Russa said. "I think that you would not be able to find one big or little characteristic that you would mark him down at less than A-plus."

So Pujols, who won his first NL Most Valuable Player Award in 2005, is a great player, pretty much everyone agrees. Hypothetically, he could be even better this season, since he was bothered by plantar fasciitis throughout 2005. What makes the Cardinals a great team, though, is Pujols' supporting cast.

St. Louis had baseball's best record last season even though third baseman Scott Rolen missed most of the season with a shoulder injury and center fielder Jim Edmonds batted 28 points below his career average. Rolen and Edmonds can be expected to have better seasons this year, while Juan Encarnacion should make up for the loss of Reggie Sanders, and Junior Spivey, Aaron Miles, Deivi Cruz and Hector Luna can ably fill Mark Grudzielanek's spot at second base.

The Cardinals corralled the two biggest individual awards in the National League in 2005. Right-hander Chris Carpenter won the Cy Young Award by going 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA in his second season back from shoulder surgery.

"For the entire season, he had all of his pitches working," La Russa said during the NLCS. "... When he has all of his pitches, you're talking about four or five things he can do to get hitters out. He can go against righties and lefties. And what we've seen, he's a terrific competitor."

Like Pujols, Carpenter was not a one-man show. The Cardinals' other four starting pitchers -- Mark Mulder, Jason Marquis, Jeff Suppan and Matt Morris -- combined to win 59 games. All but Morris, the oldest of the quintet, return for the Redbirds.

The Cardinals' bullpen was among the better relief crews in baseball a year ago, led by closer Jason Isringhausen, who had 86 saves the past two seasons. While they did lose several arms, the Cardinals balanced that by adding Braden Looper and Ricardo Rincon.

Also back, of course, is La Russa as manager. He ranks third on the all-time managerial wins list with 2,214, and first among active managers. La Russa has his critics, having won Manager of the Year four times with only one World Series title. But that's being awfully petty, considering how many teams would love to be perennial playoff contenders as La Russa's clubs have been.

The final point of intrigue for the Cardinals this year is their move into the new Busch Stadium, right next to the old stadium.