San Francisco Giants take on St. Louis cardinals in NLCS
By Ian Palmer
The San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals three games to one in their National League Divisional Series and will now take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. The Cardinals got by the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in their NLDS. The Giants made the postseason by securing a wild card berth and then beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on October 1 in a one-game showdown. They finished the regular season with a record of 88-74 in the NL West and were six games behind the Dodgers. The Cardinals won the NL Central Division by two games over Pittsburgh with a 90-72 record.
The winners of this best-of-seven NLCS will go on to play either the Baltimore Orioles or Kansas City Royals in this year’s World Series. If the Giants should happen to make it to the World Series it will be their third trip to the Fall classic in the past five years. The Cardinals and Giants last met in the postseason just two years ago when they battled it out for the NLCS with the Giants prevailing in the full seven games. This year’s series gets underway on Saturday, October 11 in St. Louis. The two teams met times in the regular season with San Francisco winning the series four games to three.
Bovada MLB NLCS Betting Lines:
San Francisco Giants:
- To win NLCS: +110
- To win World Series: 13/5
St. Louis Cardinals:
- To win NLCS: -130
- To win World Series: 13/5
The Giants scored just 2.3 runs per game on average in their series against Washington, but their lack of run production was bailed out by their pitching and defense. The Giants ERA was 1.40 against the Nationals and if the hurlers can keep it up it’s going to be tough for St. Louis to beat them. Look for Jake Peavy to start in game one for San Francisco, just as he did against the Nationals. The 33-year-old Peavy, who was acquired from the Boston Red Sox during the season, finished the campaign with a 7-13 record and 3.73 ERA. However, he was 6-4 in San Francisco with a 2.17 ERA. The Giants batters are going to have to help him out though as their combined batting average against Washington was a lowly .222. St. Louis managed to score 18 runs against the Dodgers, so it looks like St Louis will need to pick up the pace in the offensive department. We can’t criticize the Giants’ Buster Posey though as he’s batting .391 in the playoffs by going 9 for 23 with a couple of RBIs.
St. Louis will be sending right-hander Adam Wainwright to the mound in game one. He also opened the series against LA and went 20-9 on the season with an ERA of 2.38. However, he worked just 4 and 1/3 innings against LA in their opener and gave up 11 hits and six runs. He’ll be pitching against San Francisco on seven days rest though and went 1-1 against them this season. The St. Louis offense came alive against the Dodgers and they managed to beat ace pitcher Clay Kershaw twice in the series. Their left-handed batters had a field day against the Dodgers’ left-handed pitchers with a combined batting average of .366 and five homers.
National League Championship Series Schedule
- Game 1 – Saturday, October 11, San Francisco Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals
- Game 1 – Sunday, October 12, San Francisco Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals
- Game 1 – Tuesday, October 14, St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants
- Game 1 – Wednesday, October 15, St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants
- Game 1– Thursday, October 16, St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants
- Game 1 — Saturday, October 18, San Francisco Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals
- Game 1 — Sunday, October 19, San Francisco Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals
San Francisco Giants Regular-Season Team Leaders
St. Louis Cardinals Regular-Season Team Leaders
- Home Runs: Jhonny Peralta -21
- RBIs: Matt Holliday-90
- Hits: Matt Carpenter-162
- Batting Average (over 500 at bats): Jon Jay -303
- Pitching wins: Adam Wainwright (20-9)
- ERA-(over 65 innings): Pat Neshek 1.87