Two years after their fateful seven-game NLCS clash, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants will get to do it all over again. The Giants and the Cardinals advanced to the 2014 NLCS after scoring stunning upsets over the Nationals and the Dodgers respectively.
Now the stage is set for another epic showdown. Can the Cardinals avenge their series defeat two years ago? Or will the Giants claim the NL pennant and reach their third World Series in five years? Read on for a complete preview of this matchup and while you’re at it you can check out our Game 1 preview of the ALCS between the Royals and the Orioles here.
[sc:MLBArticles ]San Francisco Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview
Series Schedule & Results
Game 1 – Saturday, October 11, San Francisco Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals – view all MLB lines
Game 2 – Sunday, October 12, San Francisco Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Game 3 – Tuesday, October 14, St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants
Game 4 – Wednesday, October 15, St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants
Game 5*– Thursday, October 16, St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants
Game 6* — Saturday, October 18, San Francisco Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Game 7* — Sunday, October 19, San Francisco Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals
*If necessary
Betting on the San Francisco Giants
[sc:MLB240banner ]Here we go again. The San Francisco Giants are back in the NLCS for the third time in five years after they defeated the Washington Nationals 3-2 in Game 4 of the NLDS. Joe Panik scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Giants the 3-1 series victory.
It has been an incredible run for the Giants who qualified for this year’s postseason as the National League wild card. They steamrolled past the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 in that wild card game and had to go through four nerve-wracking games in the division series to move past the Nationals and set up an NLCS clash with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Giants will be confident, though, of getting the desired result in this series with the way their starting pitchers are performing right now. Even though, they scored an average of just 2.3 runs in their series against Washington, their starting pitching was just incredible posting a combined ERA of 1.40.
Expected to pitch in Game 1 of this series is Jake Peavy (7-13, 3.73 ERA). Peavy had a stellar outing in Game 1 of the NLDS, throwing 5.2 innings of shutout ball to give the Giants a vital 3-2 victory and helped San Francisco set the tone for the entire series.
He can’t do it all by himself though. He will need the Giants bats to awaken after a dismal batting display against the Nationals. They only hit .222 in their four-game series with Washington and that simply won’t do against the high-scoring Cardinals who scored 18 runs in the series against the Dodgers.
Fortunately for the Giants, Buster Posey is posting monster numbers in the playoffs once again. He is hitting 9-of-23 (.391) with two RBIs in five games this postseason. He is only 2 of 11 though against Adam Wainwright who is the scheduled starter for the Cardinals in Game 1.
The Giants are 4-1 in their last five meetings with the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
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Betting on the St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals will enter the NLCS with confidence at an all-time high after shocking the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in Game 4 of the NLDS to win the series 3-1.
They did it with Clayton Kershaw on the mound for the Dodgers as they defeated the best pitcher in baseball twice in four days. That’s right, Kershaw who posted a mind-boggling 21-3 record in the regular season with a 1.77 ERA, lost two times to the St. Louis Cardinals finishing with an ERA of 7.82.
Matt Adams was the hero for the Cards on Tuesday night, blasting a three-run shot off a tiring Kershaw in the bottom of the seventh inning to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead that they will never relinquish. Considering that Adams hit just .190 with three homers in 121 at-bats against lefties in the regular season, what he did to Kershaw was just simply amazing.
In fact, all the Cardinals’ left-handed hitters (Carpenter, Wong, Adams, Jay) had a field day with the Dodgers’ vaunted lefty pitchers. They recorded a .366 batting average to go along with five home runs to ignite the Cardinals offense which had its struggles earlier this season.
Interestingly though, those left-handed hitters of the Cardinals don’t have a single at-bat against Jake Peavy who is the probable Game 1 starter for the Giants. One guy who has considerable success against Peavy, however, is left fielder Matt Holliday. He is 8-for-28 (.286) with one homer and five RBIs against the Giants’ right-hander.
Starting for the Cardinals in Game 1 is right-hander Adam Wainwright (20-9, 2.38 ERA). Wainwright struggled in Game 1 against the Dodgers, allowing six runs on 11 hits in just 4.1 innings of work.
His arm issues is a growing concern for manager Mike Matheny but the Cardinals are optimistic that the seven-day rest that he will get before Game 1 will be enough for him to be fit for the opener.
He is 1-1 against the Giants this season although his last outing against San Francisco was a beauty. He pitched 7.2 shutout innings in the Cards’ 2-0 win over the Giants last July 2.
The Cardinals are 2-0 at home this postseason.
Writer’s Prediction
The Giants stun the Cardinals in Game 1.
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