The stakes have been raised. The Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals are playing for the right to be named the National League Champions as they hook up in the 2013 NLCS. Want to watch the game? Check out TV coverage and channel info as the Dodgers and Cardinals play Game 1 of their series.
Game Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
TV Channel- Where to Watch?: TBS
TBS will stick around for NLCS coverage, which is good news for those who did not possess the MLB Network channel. TBS is an easier channel to access, granted you might not have to pay extra money in addition to whatever cable plan you already have.
The top two slugging teams in the LDS will face off as the Dodgers smacked six home runs against the Atlanta Braves and the Cardinals hit five home runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates in their NLDS. However, overall, the Dodgers were the better team, scoring and driving in 26 runs. The Cardinals crossed the plate 21 times, driving in 18 runs in the NLDS.
When it comes to pitching, the Cardinals finished with a 2.66 ERA, the best of the eight teams in the LDS. They finished with 44 innings pitched and 40 strikeouts. However, though the Dodgers' pitching staff had a 3.09 ERA, fourth best out of the eight playoff teams, they struck out 42 Braves in 35 innings pitched, while only allowing one home run.
The Dodgers won the season series 4-3, but their ace, Clayton Kershaw was defeated twice by the Cardinals. However, the regular season is long gone and irrelevant at this point. As far as NLDS production, we can only use that as a hint of what's to come and the answer is clear.
The Cardinals' pitching will have to buckle down and find a way to defeat the aggressive and free swinging Dodgers, who appeared to have a runner on base in every inning in the first round of the playoffs. The Cardinal bats will also have to wake up in order to give their young pitchers run support and cushion early on.
Here are my predictions from the start of the playoffs and a breakdown of tonight's pitching matchups by Matthew J.