There aren’t many surprises on the Cardinals’ National League Wild Card Series roster, revealed Wednesday before Game 1 against the Padres in San Diego. Only two swaps were made from the 28-man roster the Cardinals ended the season with: Right-handers Jake Woodford and Seth Elledge are off, and catcher Andrew Knizner and righty Daniel Ponce de Leon -- who made all four of his starts in September as the 29th man for doubleheaders -- are on.

Knizner gives the Cardinals three catchers on the roster, allowing manager Mike Shildt to deploy Matt Wieters or Knizner off the bench during the best-of-three series.

“One is when you have the ability to stretch out to 28 (players) versus 25, having that third catcher definitely gives you some flexibility,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “And I do think if you needed him from an offensive standpoint, he could give you that. You also have Wieters as an option there as well.”

The Cardinals will have 13 pitches and 15 hitters on their roster. The club has an established core group of regulars and a pattern in their bullpen, so the final spots were determined by matchups and what the Cardinals saw in the final weeks of the regular season. Outfielder Austin Dean made the cut, as did right-handers Johan Oviedo and Kodi Whitley. While Austin Gomber and Daniel Ponce de Leon are considered the Cardinals’ long-inning relievers, both could be used in high-leverage situations if needed, and at least one will need to keep length if the Cardinals get to the best-of-five National League Division Series. Oviedo gives the Cardinals another long-inning reliever for that reason.

Whitley missed most of the season with COVID-19 and then elbow soreness, and he only pitched two innings in two games the last week of the season. But he has impressed the Cardinals from the start of 2020 and will given them an extra arm to use in the bullpen.

The Cardinals spent almost all of the regular season with more pitchers than hitters on their roster to manage doubleheaders and the schedule. But they’ve downsized the pitching number to boost the bench for late-inning options, and manager Mike Shildt can now make decisions based entirely on matchups and the moment, not looking toward the next day.

“I think this season, Shildty and Mad-Dog [pitching coach Mike Maddux] had to deploy a bullpen to survive,” infielder Brad Miller said. “Now, I’m excited to see us in one-off, win-now games where we’re going to throw the kitchen sink at them best we can and not have to worry about playing 10 games in the next six days. That is definitely something when we reflect, we’ll realize how good of a job they did at making sure guys’ arms didn’t fall off, and now we can strategize.”

Here is the Cardinals’ full NL Wild Card Series roster:

Pitchers (13): Kwang Hyun Kim, Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty, Génesis Cabrera, Austin Gomber, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Alex Reyes, Tyler Webb, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Miller, Giovanny Gallegos, Kodi Whitley, Johan Oviedo

Catchers (3): Yadier Molina, Matt Wieters, Andrew Knizner

Infielders (7): Paul Goldschmidt, Kolten Wong, Paul DeJong, Matt Carpenter, Brad Miller, Tommy Edman, Rangel Ravelo

Outfielders (5): Harrison Bader, Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, Dexter Fowler, Austin Dean