"Soaked in champagne and hesitant to talk about the Texas Rangers or anything else that can wait until the morning, manager Tony La Russa conceded to one moment of thinking ahead late Sunday night.

He toyed around with a World Series starting rotation.

And he quickly saw the luxury of avoiding a Game 7 in the National League championship series against Milwaukee.

"I started messing around with the rotation if we won (Game 6) or (Game 7), and it was real important that we won (Game 6)," La Russa said. "That's all I'm going to tell you."

Clinching the National League pennant on Sunday night bought the entire rotation an extra day of rest, and it will allow the Cardinals to reorder the starters if they desire. Perhaps most importantly the Game 6 victory scores starter Chris Carpenter an extra few days off as he pushes toward a career high in innings pitched.

Carpenter is the presumptive Game 1 starter in the World Series."