Two of baseball's most storied franchises, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers - owners of 17 World Series titles between them - will face off with a berth to a World Series on the line as Game 1 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) is set to start Friday night.
The Cardinals, who finished the year with the best record in the National League and are making their third consecutive appearance in the NLCS, will send Joe Kelly to the mound, who is working on two weeks rest. Kelly started the year in the bullpen and stepped into the fifth starter role late in the year. Kelly is working on two weeks rest.
"You could be laid off for eight days and come out and play absolutely the best baseball you've ever done," said Kelly. "You could come out and play the next day and not have a good game. This is all about execution."
The Dodgers will start 2009 Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke against the Cardinals, who lost to Atlanta during his one start in the National League Division Series despite just giving up two run on four hits in six innings.
Greinke was 15-4 with a 1.58 ERA this season and winning 12 of 14 decisions while going 7-0 with an ERA of 1.95 during his last 10 road games he pitched. Greinke is itching for action after sitting on standby in the bullpen, during the Dodgers Game 4 win against Atlanta, and admits needing to temper his adrenaline as game-time quickly approaches.
"Once we won it, it was just kind of make the best adjustments possible," said Greinke. "I mean, there's not much you can really do."
Los Angeles, who tied the Texas Rangers for the best road record in Major League Baseball going 45-36, was 4-3 in the regular-season, with three wins in four games at Busch Stadium.
"It's going to be a blast. It's going to be fun. St. Louis and L.A. going at it," said Cardinals third baseman David Freese. "Obviously, they're a great team. ... It's going to be huge. It's going to be a lot of fun."
TV Schedule
You can catch Los Angeles Dodgers - St. Louis Cardinals National League Championship Series Friday at 8:30 p.m EST on TBS.
Live Stream (video)
Live stream coverage can be seen on MLB.tv (subscription required).
Live Stream (audio)
Live stream coverage can be heard MLB.com Gameday Audio.
Live Score
Live scores could be followed by clicking here.
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