For the second time in three seasons, the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants will match up in the NLCS for the right to go to the World Series. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, San Francisco defeated a heavily favored Cardinals team in seven games. It outscored the Cardinals 20-1 in the final three games after falling down in the series three games to one.
This is also the fifth consecutive season that either and Cardinals or the Giants have played in the NLCS.
Needless to say, we are looking at two franchises that are the class of the National League this decade. And the 2014 version of the NLCS promises to be as exciting as ever.
Let's preview the Game 1, which is set to start shortly after 8:00 pm et on FOX Saturday night.
Starting Pitchers
Madison Bumgarner, Giants (18-10, 2.98 ERA): Bumgarner is now 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA in nine playoff appearances (seven starts). But over the course of his last three postseason starts, Bumgarner has given up just two runs in 23 innings for a 0.78 ERA. He's a big game pitcher that puts up his best performances when it matters the most. This is what Bumgarner will have to do if the Giants are going to steak Game 1 and home-field advantage away from the Cardinals on Saturday night.
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals (20-9, 2.38 ERA): Wainwright has been among the best starters in the modern history of the game. He has posted a 3.13 ERA in 19 playoff appearances, but is just 3-3 in 10 playoff starts. Wainwright has also struggled big time in his last three starts in the second season, posting a 6.61 ERA during that span. He's going to need to pitch a gem here if the Cardinals are going to win.
Impact Hitters
Buster Posey, Giants: There is little doubt that Posey is one of the most valuable players to his team in baseball. After putting up a .354 average in the second half of the regular season, Posey has responded by hitting .391 thus far this postseason. Though, it must be noted that Posey has just two hits in 14 career at-bats against Wainwright.
Pablo Sandoval, Giants: Yet another big game hitter, this former World Series MVP broke a string of 13 consecutive playoff games with a hit after going 0-for-3 against the Washington Nationals in Game 4 of the NLDS. He is still, however, a .311 career hitter in the playoffs. Sandoval is a career .286 hitter against Wainwright.
Hunter Pence, Giants: Pence has actually had the most success of any big-time Giants hitter against Wainwright. While hitting just .278 against the former Cy Young winner, Pence has three career homers. If the Giants are going to get much done against the veteran righty, Pence will have to prove his worth here.
Matt Holliday, Cardinals: Holliday led the Cardinals with 90 RBI's during the regular season, but he's just a career .257 playoff hitter and hit .267 in the NLDS. He's a career .167 hitter with zero homers and zero RBI's in 18 at-bats against Bumgarner. That needs to change on Saturday night.
Matt Adams, Cardinals: Adams, your NLDS hero, is looking to continue his stellar postseason performance against one of the best pitchers in the game. He might have only hit .250 in the Dodgers series, but one of those four hits was a pretty big one against Clayton Kershaw in the series-clinching Game 4 win.
Pitching Advantage: I am going to go with recent success over long-term success. Bumgarner has simply been the better playoff pitcher than Wainwright in recent seasons. And in reality, it's really not even that close. His domination should be able to stifle Cardinals bats enough for the Giants to compete in what will be a low-scoring affair.
Hitting Advantage: Realistically, the Cardinals have an advantage here. Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday, Matt Adams and Jhonny Peralta has both the experience and past success to get some key hits in this one. With that said, the Giants have a couple players who up their game a big deal in October. I'm still going with the Cardinals here.
Giants will Win Because: Bumgarner will shut down the Cardinals lineup and enable the Giants to scratch out a win in what promises to be a low-scoring game, especially if Buster Posey continues his hot hitting.
Cardinals will Win Because: Wainwright turns around his recent postseason performance and pitches a gem. You can't expect the Cardinals to score five runs in this one, so he's going to have to be light's out against a weak-hitting Giants lineup.
Final Prediction
Giants: 2
Cardinals: 1