For the Dodgers, they come in as the NL West Champions, finishing the regular season with a record of 92-70. This was the first time in four years the Dodgers had won the NL West. Once the playoffs started, they disposed of the NL East champions the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers are 5-2 all time in the NLCS, their last win in the league championship series coming in 1988, the last time they won the world series. LA last played in the NLCS in 2009, which they lost to the Cardinals, that coming a year after losing to the Phillies in the 2008 NLCS. This is the first time the Dodgers had made the playoffs under manager Don Mattingly. All time, the Dodgers have a record of 70-86 with six world series titles to their credit. Three of those titles came while the franchise was still in Brooklyn.
As for the Cardinals, this is the 3rd consecutive year they are playing in the NLCS, and the 4th time in the last 7 years they are playing for the NL Pennant. In fact, since 2000 the Cardinals have made the NLCS 7 times, going 3-4 in those series. St Louis is 116-101 all time in the playoffs, in franchise history, and have 11 world series titles to show for all that success. St Louis got here after holding off the wild card winners the Pittsburgh Pirates in a hard fought five game series. St Louis has home field advantage in this NLCS. This will be the fourth postseason meeting between the Cardinals and Dodgers. They previously met in the 1985 NLCS (Cardinals won 4–2), 2004 NLDS (Cardinals won 3–1), and 2009 NLDS (Dodgers won 3–0). Of the seven games played between the two teams during the regular season, the Dodgers won the series 4-3.
Here's the date, time and location of every game during this best of seven series:
Oct 11, 2013 LAD @ STL 8:37 PM ET
Oct 12, 2013 LAD @ STL 4:07 PM ET
Oct 14, 2013 STL @ LAD 8:07 PM ET
Oct 15, 2013 STL @ LAD 8:07 PM ET
Oct 16, 2013 STL @ LAD 4:07 PM ET
Oct 18, 2013 LAD @ STL 8:37 PM ET
Oct 19, 2013 LAD @ STL 8:37 PM ET
All games are set to be broadcast on TBS and ESPN Radio.
The series matches a largely homegrown team seeking its second World Series appearance in three years against one that's been among the biggest spenders trying to get there for the first time in a quarter-century. The Dodgers spent well over $200 million to put together their team.
This series pits two of the highest scoring, and best power hitting teams in the league. LA has scored 26 runs in the 4 games against Atlanta, and hit 7 home runs. St Louis scored 21 runs off 6 long balls. These two clubs also have some of the best pitching numbers in the playoffs as well. The have both struck out 40+ opposing hitters, with the Cardinals boasting a team ERA of 2.66, while the Dodgers come in with a 3.09 ERA. So this is going to make for a highly entertaining series, considering that both clubs are pretty evenly matched. Both teams are a little banged up, the Dodgers are going to be limited with what outfielder Andre Either can do, same thing with the Cardinals and Adam Craig.
What this series is going to come down to is, who can come up with the bigger hit in the series. It's going to go six games easy. St Louis does have a good team, but they are back on their heels a little coming off the five game series with the Pirates. Plus they are facing a team that has been knocking the cover off the ball lately. St. Louis is going to put up a good fight but I think the Dodgers take the series in six.
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