When comparing the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves, the Cardinals had a clear advantage in the pitching and defense categories which, as fans saw, beat out the muscle-bound offense they were going up against.
The Cardinals disappearing offense trick showed up some, but in general, the pitching of the Cardinals was enough of an advantage to take the load off the offense. The other thing that happened was that the biggest bats of the Cardinals stepped up when the team needed them to.
After beating the Braves in the NLDS, the Cardinals will now go on and face the Washington Nationals in the NLCS.