Both National League Division Series got underway Friday, with the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals each emerging victorious and taking 1-0 series leads in a pair of one-run games.
Saturday features all four Senior Circuit clubs battling it out once more, as the Nationals and Dodgers look to tie their series up before they take to the road.
Here’s the information you’ll need to view Saturday’s contests as well as a preview of each game.
Giants at Nationals
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
When: Saturday, October 4
Start Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
Watch: Fox Sports 1
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Series Schedule
The first game of this best-of-five series saw the Giants narrowly take a 1-0 advantage with a 3-2 win. They led 3-0 at one point before the Nationals got solo home runs from Bryce Harper and Asdrubal Cabrera off Hunter Strickland in the seventh inning.
In case you missed it, here’s Harper’s 445-foot moonshot:
Game 2 of this series leads off Saturday’s baseball action with a pitching matchup that features San Francisco’s Tim Hudson and Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann.
The latter, of course, is coming off a no-hitter thrown Sunday that was assisted in large part by outfielder Steven Souza’s outstanding catch:
That capped off a terrific run that began on August 2 in which the 28-year-old went 8-0 over 11 starts with a 1.81 ERA and .524 OPS against.
At the other end of the spectrum is Hudson, whose production has fallen off a cliff over his last 11 trips to the mound in the regular season.
His record over that span was 1-6, and he posted an abysmal 5.68 ERA. Opposing hitters must have been licking their chops considering Hudson gave up an OPS of .811 as well.
Prediction: With the Nationals at home and desperately needing a win to avoid going down 2-0 before heading to the West Coast, their balanced lineup knocks Hudson around while Zimmerman keeps his hot streak alive.
San Francisco 1, Washington 6
Cardinals at Dodgers
Where: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
When: Saturday, October 4
Start Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
Watch: MLB Network
Live Stream: MLB.tv
Series Schedule
Another tight opener, but not in the way most people anticipated.
In a clash between aces Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright, fans and pundits alike projected a low-scoring affair. Friday’s game was the complete opposite.
It was a game that featured a bench-clearing altercation instigated by Adrian Gonzalez and Yadier Molina, a 10-9 scoreline and 26 hits:
Kershaw‘s night even set a record, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Game 2 goes Saturday from the City of Angels (and Dodgers, for that matter) and gives the Dodgers a chance to rebound and even the series up quickly.
It’s yet another pitching duel in the making between Lance Lynn and Zack Greinke, per MLB’s official Twitter account:
Both starters enter with an ERA below the 2.75 mark.
If those two can keep the ball down in the zone, we should see a game that resembles a pitchers’ duel more than Game 1.
For the Dodgers, the focus has to be on slowing down the top of the Cardinals order, which trampled them Friday.
Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Matt Holliday combined to go 5-for-13 with three home runs, eight RBI and a walk.
The task isn’t as simple for Lynn, as the Dodgers used their two through six hitters—as well as a four-hit night from catcher A.J. Ellis—to score their nine runs.
With two evenly matched pitchers toeing the rubber Saturday night, this one will come down to which team’s bats can come through.
With the Dodgers possessing more depth in that department, I’d give them the edge.
Prediction: Much like the Nationals, the Dodgers know they can’t drop both games at home to open their best-of-five series. Both pitchers come through and go deep into the game, with Los Angeles’ bats outperforming those of the Cardinals.
St. Louis Cardinals 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 3
Jon Reid is a correspondent for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @JonReidCSM.
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