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The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers pitted aces Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright against each other in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. As practically no one expected, each pitcher was peppered, as the Cardinals emerged victorious by a score of 10-9.

On Saturday, both teams are back in action, and Zack Greinke and Lance Lynn will attempt to fare better than their counterparts. Although, based on the offensive fireworks that were on display from both teams on Friday, we could be in line for another shootout.

In this best-of-five series, Game 2 is immensely important. A St. Louis win would put a stranglehold on the series, while a Los Angeles win would even things right back up. As we await the action to continue, let’s take a look at the impending contest’s viewing information, outlook and prediction.

Viewing Information

Series: St. Louis leads, 1-0

When: Saturday, October 4

Time (ET): 9:30 p.m.

Channel: MLBN

Live Stream: MLB.TV

Outlook and Prediction

Well, Game 1 wasn’t exactly the pitchers’ duel we expected; however, we have two very talented players set to take the mound on Saturday.

Greinke and Lynn both come with their ups and downs. Lynn boasted a 2.54 ERA in the month of September and refusing to allow more than three runs in any contest—he went at least six innings in all six of his starts. On the other hand, Greinke comes in with a nice winning streak on his side after allowing just nine runs last month.

Although, while Greinke appears to have the hotter hand right now, he is still attempting to establish himself in the postseason. Here’s a look at his ERA in October, via Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller:

Both pitchers faced each other on June 28 this season. Lynn was wildly inconsistent, giving up six runs over just two innings pitched. Greinke was on point, going a full seven innings while allowing just one run.

The forthcoming pitching matchup is about as even as anyone could imagine. The same can be said at the plate. ESPN Stats & Info noted how badly the hitters from both teams teed off on the aces on Friday:

In Game 1, both teams showed a bevy of talent and depth in their lineups, combining for 26 hits and 19 runs. However, the Dodgers were more aggressive earlier in the game, as the team attacked Wainwright in the game’s early innings.

The Dodgers saw production from all across the lineup, as Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and A.J. Ellis all got into the action, scoring six times through three innings. Five different players finished with multi-hit games and seven accounted for at least one RBI.

On the other hand, St. Louis saw a frenzy of scores in one inning. The team pummeled the Los Angeles rotation in the seventh inning, earning a total of eight runs in the process. However, Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday combined for seven of the team’s RBIs.

While the production from those two sluggers was fantastic, the Cardinals will need to see more consistent output across the rest of the lineup in order to ensure ongoing success in Los Angeles.

For now, the nod goes to the Dodgers on Saturday. Expect Greinke to continue his hot streak while the team’s hitters keep up their torrid pace to even the series.

Prediction: Dodgers 6, Cardinals 4

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A riveting second day of the 2014 MLB playoffs saw both National League Division Series commence. The Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants went toe-to-toe, as Jake Peavy defeated Stephen Strasburg in a pitchers’ duel. On the other side of the coin, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a shootout after Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw were pelted in the middle innings.

All four teams are back in action Saturday.

Tim Hudson is set to take the mound for San Francisco, and he’ll face Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann. Lance Lynn will be starting for St. Louis in a duel against Zack Greinke. With so much talent set to take the mound yet again, we’re sure in for another very compelling day of baseball.

As we wait and see how Day 3 unfolds, let’s take a look at all pertinent viewing information and predict the outcome for each contest.

Live Stream: MLB.TV 

Day 3 Predictions

San Francisco Giants at Washington Nationals

The Giants showed plenty of moxie on the road against a very well-rounded Nationals team that had the NL’s co-leader in strikeouts on the mound Friday. San Francisco’s bats were more active than the final score indicates, as they recorded eight hits off Strasburg en route to a 12-hit, three-run performance.

While Peavy had a great outing, San Francisco’s bullpen was equally as impressive. Hunter Strickland came through in the clutch, recording a strikeout with the bases loaded. Afterward, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla blanked the Washington bats the rest of the way.

Peavy had some major praise for Strickland during a press conference, via MLB.com: “He saved the game. I want to make sure he understands that, even giving up the homers. He probably has a bad taste in his mouth. He saved the game with that big out against Desmond there.”

One area where the Giants must improve going forward is converting with runners in scoring position—they went 3-for-15 in Game 1. The Nationals are no strangers to lighting up the scoreboard, finishing ninth in runs during the regular season. San Francisco can’t expect to hold them to such a low number in each outing.

The Nationals showed they can hit the deep ball as well as anyone Friday; however, like the Giants, they weren’t efficient with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-5 on the day. Bryce Harper was the only Washington player to have a multihit game, and this team needs a bigger impact from Ian Desmond to even things up.

Patrick Paolini Jr. of Fox5 tweeted exactly why the team needs a contribution from Desmond:

While the Giants appear to have the early advantage at the plate, Washington has a hotter pitcher set to take the mound Saturday. Zimmermann ended his regular season with a brilliant no-hitter, and he hasn’t lost a decision since mid-July. On the other hand, Hudson didn’t earn a single win in September, pitching six innings just once.

Expect Zimmermann to continue riding his momentum and the Nationals hitters to bring across enough runners to earn a close victory.

Prediction: Nationals 5, Giants 3

St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers

When a game features the likes of Wainwright and Kershaw, very little scoring is expected. Well, that wasn’t the case at all during Game 1 of this series. Both pitchers were pelted much more than usual, and the end result was a 10-9 St. Louis win.

At first, Friday’s game appeared to be well in hand for the Dodgers. Kershaw gave up two runs through six innings while Los Angeles consistently put runs on the board, bringing in a total of six through the fifth inning. Then, the wheels fell off.

After a couple of runs scored early in the seventh inning, Matt Carpenter—who homered earlier in the game—continued his surge, lining a double to deep center and clearing the bases, instantly giving the Cardinals the lead. Matt Holiday finished off the eight-run inning with a three-run jack.

The Dodgers did fight back, scoring two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth. However, with the tying run at third base, Yasiel Puig struck out swinging to end the game. Kershaw got the loss, and he also lost this unblemished record, via ESPN Stats & Info:

Defeating Kershaw in that manner will surely give the Cardinals a great deal of momentum going forward.

Both teams are looking solid at the plate, so we can expect Saturday’s showdown to be decided on the mound.

Greinke earned a greater amount of wins in September, claiming four in his five starts; however, he went at least six innings in just three of those games. Lynn’s ERA in September was actually lower than Greinke‘s despite giving up two more runs. The biggest difference, though, was the fact that Lynn also gave up five home runs to Greinke‘s one.

Like Kershaw, Greinke hasn’t been overly fantastic in the postseason, via Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller:

These pitchers squared off once during the regular season—a contest on June 28 in Los Angeles. Lynn was pummeled by Los Angeles, giving up six earned runs in just two innings, but Greinke was sharp, lasting seven innings while allowing just one run.

We should expect more of the same Saturday when Greinke evens the series for the home team.

Prediction: Dodgers 6, Cardinals 4

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Jake Peavy and the San Francisco Giants barely came away with a 3-2 victory in Game 1 against the Washington Nationals. Game 2 on Saturday promises to bring even more fireworks with a huge pitching duel.

Much like Friday’s matchup, a veteran starter for the Giants will face off with a young hurler for the Nationals. Tim Hudson, 39, will do battle with Jordan Zimmermann, a 28-year-old who has one start in the postseason.

Outside of two seventh-inning home runs by Bryce Harper and Asdrubal Cabrera, it was San Francisco’s pitching staff that got the better of Washington’s lineup. The Giants lineup finished with a .324 average in Game 1 but will have a difficult time keeping that up against Zimmermann.

Here’s a look at the schedule, viewing info and breakdown of Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

NLDS Game 2 Information

Where: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.

When: Saturday, Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m. ET

TV: Fox Sports 1

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Game Preview

Here’s the thing about pitching in the postseason: Having experience can sometimes trump talent. However, despite his nine starts in the playoffs, Hudson has just one win to show for it.

The 16-year veteran boasts a 3.46 ERA in the playoffs along with a 3.57 ERA this season. Leading up to the series, Hudson had some interesting comments about the postseason, per Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post:

Obviously they have a talented group over there, there’s no question. They have some great pitching. But come playoff time, talent can take you a long ways, but what do you have between your legs? That’s going to take you real far. And I think we’ve got a group in here that really has some of that.

Ironically enough, Hudson has never been on a team that has advanced out of the division series. Not with the Oakland Athletics or Atlanta Braves, two teams that fell short on six different occasions with Hudson as a member of the rotation.

Meanwhile, Zimmermann has been the most consistent starter for the Nationals all season. His 2.66 ERA and 182 strikeouts are both career highs, and he’s coming off a no-hitter in the season finale, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Along with the young talent on the mound, the Nats also have a wealth of power in the lineup. While a lot of that power failed to show up in Game 1, Harper made a huge statement at the plate.

Harper’s 445-foot home run was not only a mammoth shot but also the biggest swing of his young career. ESPN Stats & Info points out just how huge the swing was for Harper’s career:

Doing that on a postseason stage makes more than just memories, but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome for the Nationals. If the batters ahead of him go a combined 2-for-17 as they did in Game 1, solo shots can only put a small dent in the score.

With a chance to go up 2-0 heading back to San Francisco, the Giants might be starting yet another postseason run. Thanks to a talented young roster, the Nats still have the arms and bats to get back in the series on Saturday.

Follow @RCorySmith on Twitter.

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The 2014 postseason was supposed to be Mike Trout‘s coming-out party. It was his chance to shine on the big stage and solidify his status among baseball’s immortal talents.

It isn’t over yet, but so far things aren’t going swimmingly.

In two playoff games, Trout is 0-for-8. And the Los Angeles Angels are down 2-0 in the best-of-five ALDS to the no-quit Kansas City Royals, who look more like a team of destiny with each nail-biting victory.

The Royals’ latest and most convincing win came Friday night, a stirring 4-1, 11-inning triumph.

To be fair, Trout’s not the only Angel who isn’t hitting. The Halos have managed just three runs in two games against K.C., and fellow middle-of-the-order hitters Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols have gone a combined 1-for-17.

But Trout is the stud, the prohibitive MVP favorite. The guy who is supposed to take the team on his shoulders and carry it across the finish line.

Right now, it looks like Los Angeles won’t advance past the first lap.

On Friday night, the Angels faced rookie Yordano Ventura, who has electric stuff but came out of the bullpen to surrender a two-run home run in the Wild Card Playoff against the Oakland A’s. 

Ventura can touch triple digits with his fastball, and he pitched like a flame-throwing ace against the Angels. His counterpart and fellow rookie, right-hander Matt Shoemaker, wasn’t so bad himself.

In fact, Shoemaker was downright excellent, allowing just one unearned run and striking out six in six innings. For a guy who missed the end of the season with an oblique strain, it was a gutsy, impressive performance.

But his teammates failed to reward him. Sure, the Angels plated a run in the sixth on a Pujols single to tie the game 1-1. As the contest stretched past the ninth, though, it seemed inherently to favor the Royals, who have now won three postseason games, all in extra frames.

As for the Angels? After accumulating the best record in baseball at 98-64 and running away with the AL West, they’re teetering on the brink of an early, unceremonious exit.

If they’re going to stave off elimination, they’ll need something from Trout.

As Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram (h/t Los Angeles Daily News) put it Oct. 1:

[Trout] was Rookie of the Year in 2012 and could win the AL Most Valuable Player award for his efforts during this 2014 regular season.

He has not toiled in the postseason yet, however. And since the baseball world is looking at him as the new face of baseball, what with the Yankees’ Derek Jeter retiring, there is tremendous anticipation to see what the 23-year-old from New Jersey does with that first taste.

Will it be bitter? Sweet? Somewhere in the middle? 

We still don’t know the answer. The Angels, and Trout, will get another crack at the Royals on Sunday in Kansas City. It’s not over till it’s over; there’s still time for redemptive heroics.

Otherwise, the 2014 campaign will go down as a colossal disappointment for Trout and the Halos. 

After ostensible ace Garrett Richards went down with a knee injury Aug. 20, pitching was supposed to be the Angels’ biggest weakness.

Instead, they’ve gotten solid efforts so far in the NLDS from starters Shoemaker and Jered Weaver. And the ‘pen has mostly held its own.

It’s been the bats—which led MLB with 773 runs scored—that have gone limp at the worst possible time.

Trout, per Greg Beacham of The Associated Press (h/t ABC News), got some valuable advice from Pujols prior to the postseason: “He told me to just be myself…Just keep that same swing that got you here, and go from there. It’s definitely a bigger game, for sure. All eyes are on you.”

The problem, now, is that all eyes may soon be off Trout. And the party may be over before it starts.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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LOS ANGELES — To think you know baseball is to be a stupid, stupid fool. 

No one understands this game, or why things happen how they happen, particularly when everyone expects exactly the opposite. That is why you watch in October. That is why jaws can routinely be picked up off the floor with a snow shovel in the autumn.

It is why the sport is beautiful, because the seemingly impossible can always trump perfectly sound reason.

It is why the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers left the baseball-watching world speechless and in disbelief Friday night at Dodger Stadium. This was an outcome nobody saw coming before Game 1 of the National League Division Series started, or even more than halfway through it.

In a game started by the two best pitchers in the league, the Cardinals won, 10-9. It wasn’t that the Cardinals won that was so stunning, but it was the way they got down and then came back, and the fact that Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright combined to give up 14 runs, every single one of them as earned as earned can be.

Simply stated, this game was shocking, and if the rest of the series is anything close to this, predictions be damned. This is going to be wild.

“That’s baseball. Anything can happen,” Dodgers right fielder Matt Kemp said after the game, attempting to brush aside the fact that this game was ridiculously nuts.

Kemp then paused for a few seconds before offering some candidness.

“Maybe I was a little shocked.”

The part that was so crazy was that the starting pitchers came in as the best the NL has to offer at that position, with Kershaw being the most dominant pitcher in the world during the regular season. Yet Wainwright was smacked around by a surging Dodgers offense that took errant fastball after errant fastball and locked in on his breaking pitches.

When Wainwright did miss in the zone with hard stuff—fastball, sinker, cutter—the Dodgers tagged him for eight hits. And when the curveball found the hitting zone, three hits, not including a laser of a liner by Hanley Ramirez that was caught for an out.

“My fastball command was absolutely atrocious. Awful,” Wainwright said. “When they realized it, they sat on the slow stuff.”

By the end of all the contact, Wainwright had allowed six runs on 11 hits and Dodger Stadium transformed from sporting venue to all-out house party. A five-run lead with Kershaw on the mound—he started the game 67-0 when the Dodgers gave him at least four runs—was plenty reason to start the celebration while the Southern California sun still beamed.

Tsk, tsk. As Kemp so plainly noted, this is baseball. More specifically, postseason baseball. Very little goes as plotted.

After Kershaw allowed a first-inning home run on a curveball—the third-ever home run he’s allowed on that pitch in 1,423.1 innings—he put away 16 consecutive Cardinals hitters and seemed to be cruising. Everything was working. The fastball, the curveball, the swing-and-miss slider and the changeup, all of them working seamlessly together to create Kershaw’s latest masterpiece.

But…

It appears as if baseball games are not over until they’re over.

— Zachary D. Rymer (@zachrymer) October 4, 2014

For as lights-out as Kershaw has been over the last four seasons, not even he could duck the total wackiness of this game. Going into the seventh inning, Kershaw had allowed two baserunners, both of which hit solo home runs, and gave the Dodgers zero indication he was about to implode.

It started innocently: Matt Holliday lacing a single up the middle to start the inning, putting Kershaw into the stretch for the first time. Then Jhonny Peralta the same thing. Then Yadier Molina the same thing to load the bases, nobody out. Two more singles wrapped around a strikeout and suddenly it was a two-run Dodger lead.

Then a three-pitch strikeout and it seemed Kershaw was back. Furthering the assumption, he got ahead of Matt Carpenter 0-2, but the at-bat turned dim for Kershaw. He could not put away Carpenter, who worked to see six more pitches before thrashing a middle-middle fastball for a bases-clearing double.

Just like that, an entire country, an entire Twitter universe and entire baseball world was turned on its throbbing head. Stunned euphoria in certain parts of that world, stunned silence in others.

“If I don’t get in the way tonight,” Kershaw said, “we have a pretty good chance to win this.”

Just the thought of two of the best pitchers in this galaxy saying they got in the way of their teams’ chances to win a playoff game is absurd. But that’s how this night went.

What wasn’t so unexpected is that the bad blood between these two clubs started to boil in this first game. It also signaled the start of Wainwright’s meltdown when he hit Yasiel Puig with one of those catch-me-if-you-can fastballs.

Puig calmly strutted to first base, but Adrian Gonzalez, usually the calmest of the men in uniform, confronted hot-tempered St. Louis catcher Molina.

“We’re not going to start this again,” Gonzalez claimed to have told Molina.

“You have to respect me,” Gonzalez claimed was Molina’s response.

For Molina’s part, he said he couldn’t hear Gonzalez, but that he was screaming.

“I told him, ‘If you’re going to scream at me, get ready to fight,’ ” Molina claims was his actual response.

The dugouts emptied, the bullpen gates opened, but officials quickly restored order. Molina and Gonzalez seemed to be the only two fired up enough to raise their voices.

Wainwright and Puig found each other, spoke a few words and called it a day, the latter finishing the exchange with a friendly pat on Waino’s backside.

“It kinda woke a sleeping dog,” Carpenter said, acknowledging the Dodgers went bonkers after that, scoring six runs in the next three innings off Wainwright.

This beef between the Cardinals and Dodgers started last postseason, when the ninth pitch of Game 1 of the NL Championship Series stuck in Hanley Ramirez’s side, snapping one of his ribs and taking him out of the series. Two games later, Gonzalez doubled in a run off Wainwright and gestured toward the Dodger dugout to fire up his team. Postgame, Wainwright described Gonzalez’s behavior as “Mickey Mouse.”

In July of this season, the fireworks went off again when Cardinals flamethrower Carlos Martinez hit Ramirez with a fastball high on his shoulder. In the bottom of that inning, Kershaw plunked Matt Holliday. In the ninth inning, St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal hit Ramirez again, this time on the hand, knocking him out of the lineup for a few games. 

“It happened during the season, and it’s a trend,” Gonzalez said of the Cardinals hitting Dodgers players. “They can deny it as much as they want. They are going to say it’s not on purpose, but we all know (it is).

“If that’s the way they want to go at it, we’ll make adjustments.”

So that’s where we stand, in a completely unpredictable series that could erupt into punches at any moment. Or not.

This is baseball, though, and none of us knows what will happen next. So let’s just enjoy the drama as it unfolds.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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The San Francisco Giants did it again on Friday, winning another October game they weren’t supposed to. In a tightly contested Game 1 of the National League Division Series, the Giants beat the top-seeded Washington Nationals on the road, 3-2, and earned their ninth straight postseason victory overall, dating back to 2012.

With that, only four teams—and just two franchises—have won more playoff games in a row in Major League Baseball history:

And so the Giants are showing yet again that they can never be counted out in October.

Whether or not you buy into the whole #EvenYear voodoo they have going on, it sure feels like the Giants are going to follow up 2010 and 2012 with 2014, doesn’t it?

It felt that way during Friday’s win, especially considering San Francisco sent noted playoff goat Jake Peavy to the mound against Nationals stud Stephen Strasburg.

But despite this…

…this happened:

Having come over in a July trade from the Boston Red Sox, the 33-year-old Peavy finally got his first October win in his sixth postseason start and 13th season in the majors.

The righty worked the corners of the strike zone up and down, left and right, allowing just five baserunners (two hits and three walks) in 5.2 scoreless innings, tying the longest outing of his playoff career.

San Francisco’s lineup was far from a force, but it dinked and dunked Strasburg to death in his first-ever October outing, managing eight hits off him—all singles—many of which were back up the middle and of the seeing-eye variety.

The Giants put together a good plan of attack and proceeded to execute it with pesky at-bats, which is how they were able to be the first team to notch an earned run off Strasburg, who struck out just two, since Sept. 10.

And so despite this…

…this happened:

Meanwhile, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy was ready to go to the bullpen as Peavy started to tire in the sixth inning when he gave up a leadoff double and a walk in the span of four batters. Good call, especially given Peavy’s tendency to get knocked around on his third time through the order this year.

In came lefty specialist Javier Lopez to face Adam LaRoche, who posted a .620 OPS against same-sided pitchers in 2014. Except Lopez, who held lefty hitters to a .538 OPS and walked just six in 108 plate appearances this year, issued a free pass to the first baseman to load the bases with two outs. 

Getting the call? None other than 26-year-old rookie Hunter Strickland, a hard-throwing right-hander who had made his MLB debut only a month and two days ago.

Surely this had to be the reckoning, the turning of the tides, yes?

Up stepped Ian Desmond, and despite this…

…this happened:

Although he surrendered a pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the seventh—one an absolute mammoth third-deck blast by Bryce Harper—Strickland still turned the game over to left-hander Jeremy Affeldt, who polished off the frame to keep the Giants ahead.

The Nationals, of course, would get no closer, as the score finished just that way, 3-2, thanks to Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla, the former closer and his replacement.

As Romo said afterward, via Chris Haft of MLB.com:

I think we tapped into our postseason experience. There’s that little extra thing in our chemistry—that focus, that determination—that separates postseason games from regular-season games. Everything seems to matter in the playoffs. We’ve had our backs against the wall in tough environments against tough pitching and tough lineups. It enables us to stick together.

Now San Francisco heads into Saturday’s Game 2 in Washington having snatched home-field advantage. While struggling veteran Tim Hudson is on the hill, it almost feels like it doesn’t matter how he fares. Even if Hudson pitches like he has all second half (4.73 ERA, 1.45 WHIP), the Giants still could come up with a way to win.

And if they don’t? Well, it’s still no biggie: Ace Madison Bumgarner—he of the complete-game, four-hit shutout to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in Wednesday’s Wild Card Game—is all geared up for Game 3 back in San Francisco.

One way or another, it seems, even-yeared Octobers have a way of falling in the Giants’ favor.

Fellow Bleacher Report MLB Lead Writer Zachary D. Rymer shared a thought about the magical recipe:

Can it really be that simple? Not quite, because that’s taking credit away from the Giants themselves and what they managed to do in 2010 and 2012, and what they quite possibly could do in 2014.

But heck, they certainly make it seem that easy, don’t they?

It’s October, which means the Giants are showing yet again they can’t be counted out. They’re showing that despite all the doubters and the critics and the supposed-to’s, this is, in fact, happening.

Statistics are accurate through Oct. 3 and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11.

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There might not be a better opening-round series in the MLB playoffs than the St. Louis Cardinals against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

These two organizations are loaded with experience and know what it takes to win at this level. The Cardinals have reached the postseason 11 times in the past 15 years, winning four pennants and two World Series titles. Meanwhile, the Dodgers went to the NLCS last season and have quite a few veterans who have been in this spot before.

This is certain to create a well-played series with both sides finding ways to come through in big moments.

In order to keep up with every game of this highly anticipated series, here is a look at the schedule and a breakdown of what to expect over the next week.

Pitching Breakdown

There is no question the Dodgers have the best pitcher (and arguably best player) in the series in Clayton Kershaw. The lefty led the majors in both wins and ERA and hardly ever gave opponents a chance to win.

Seth Davis of CBS Sports gave his opinion on the player’s season:

Meanwhile, Aaron Gleeman of NBC Sports noted how well Kershaw has pitched in a historical context:

It is easy to simply pencil in the Dodgers for wins in the likely two games he starts this series. However, it is important to remember the Cardinals beat Kershaw twice in the NLCS a year ago, both on great starts by Michael Wacha.

Although Wacha has not been himself since returning from a shoulder injury, the Cardinals still have plenty of talent around Adam Wainwright, who will start Game 1. Lance Lynn has had a great season and John Lackey usually pitches well in the playoffs, accumulating a 3.03 ERA in 19 appearances.

Zack Greinke and Kershaw likely give the Dodgers a slight advantage on the mound going into each game, but this battle is much closer than one would think.

Offense

In past seasons, the St. Louis lineup was a nightmare for opposing pitchers because it simply didn’t end. There were quality hitters from top to bottom and everyone was capable of getting a big hit when it was needed.

However, that same depth is not there this year due to injuries and poor performances throughout. ESPN.com’s Tim Kurkjian describes the problems for the Cardinals offense:

It simply is not the same group from 2013. That team led the NL in scoring, this team scored 164 fewer runs, and finished 10th in runs scored. The Cardinals were last in the NL with 105 homers. Matt Holliday is the only Cardinal who finished with more than 75 RBIs. And they’ll be left-handed heavy — Matt Carpenter, Matt Adams, Jon Jay, Kolten Wong — going against Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu.

With Carlos Beltran and Allen Craig no longer with the team and Yadier Molina struggling since returning from an injury, the group remaining does not scare anyone. After finishing 23rd in the majors in runs scored, these problems are likely to continue in the playoffs.

On the other hand, the Dodgers have a great balance of speed (Dee Gordon, Carl Crawford), power (Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp) and pure hitting ability (Hanley Ramirez, Yasiel Puig). These elements combine to create a lineup that could score in a number of different ways.

This could end up making the difference in what could become a short series.

Prediction: Dodgers Win in 4 Games

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly recently discussed the struggles his team has had against the Cardinals:

They’re a good club. They’ve been kind of a thorn in our side the last couple years. They beat us last year and knocked us out. I think the year before they beat us late in the year here in LA to kind of keep us out of the wild card.

So they’ve been a tough club for us. … It’s kind of turned into a pretty good rivalry.

The entire roster will do its best to make sure this one-sided rivalry does not continue in 2014.

Kershaw looks even better than last season and is ready to lead the team to victory. Meanwhile, the Cardinals appear worse in almost every facet of the game.

Los Angeles should be able to finally overcome St. Louis and advance to the National League Championship Series.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for the latest breaking news and analysis.

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One thing that defines Major League Baseball’s postseason is the unpredictable nature of the short series. Even though the regular season is built on three- and four-game series, it’s harder to pin down what happens now because the separation between the best and worst teams is minimal. 

Despite what Las Vegas odds will tell you about the World Series favorites (h/t Odds Shark), the Los Angeles Dodgers are not more than twice as likely to win a championship than the Kansas City Royals. Last year, Boston was four outs away from being down 2-0 to Detroit before David Ortiz hit a grand slam to change everything. 

The good news is this gives us plenty to talk about every day for the next month, but for the purposes of this article we are focused specifically on the two Wild Card games taking place Tuesday and Wednesday for the right to play in the Division Series. 

*If needed. Courtesy of MLB.com

Key Wild Card Game Storylines

Postseason Baseball Is Back in Kansas City

There will be plenty of time to talk about the game between the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals before, during and after the game. Instead, let’s talk about the great story that is playoff baseball in this city for the first time since 1985. 

From a personal standpoint, having been born in November 1985, this is the first time I will ever see the Royals in the postseason. Coming on the heels of Pittsburgh ending its long playoff drought last year, this is a great time to be a baseball fan. 

Are the Pirates or Royals going to generate the kind of ratings and buzz that teams like the Yankees or Red Sox would? No, of course not. But who cares? I’d rather see new blood in the postseason than sit through another five-hour game between New York and Boston. 

Bob Nightengale of USA Today started the pregame hype with a piece that came out Monday about how many fans were in attendance during the Royals’ batting practice session:

When the Royals walked onto the field Monday morning for batting practice, there were 5,000 fans in the stands to greet them, cheer them, even staging an ol‘ fashioned pep rally normally reserved for Friday night high school football games.

This is their team.

This is their town.

Last year, we saw the passionate Pittsburgh fanbase unleash more than 20 years of frustration in an exuberant game when the Pirates defeated Cincinnati in the National League Wild Card game. It was evident the Reds were out of sorts early because of the crowd, with Johnny Cueto dropping the ball while stepping back on the mound, via MLB Advanced Media:

I don’t know if Jon Lester, who has been through plenty of playoff battles in his career, will be overwhelmed by the Royals crowd, but expecting anything less than what the Pittsburgh crowd brought to its game last year would be foolish. 

Win or lose, the Royals and their fans have earned this moment to celebrate an accomplishment that is 29 years in the making. As the great Jack Buck said after Ozzie Smith’s walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series, go crazy, folks!

Oakland’s Second-Half Collapse

Is there a playoff team that’s harder to figure out than the A’s? I will admit that I think they are going to defeat Kansas City on Tuesday night because Lester is the best pitcher either team has and the offense has more firepower than Kansas City’s lineup. 

That said, based on what Oakland’s lineup has done in the second half of the season (3.93 runs per game), it wouldn’t be a surprise to see James Shields throw a complete-game shutout. It’s not like Shields is a slouch in the pitching department, either. 

According to Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today, Oakland’s 29-38 record in the second half is the worst ever for a team that made the playoffs. He also noted the lineup hit an American League-worst .233 after the All-Star break. 

Again, though, starting pitching makes all the difference in October. Lester was one of the best in baseball this year, finishing fourth in the AL with a 2.46 ERA and seventh in fielding independent ERA (2.80). As ESPN.com’s Tim Kurkjian wrote in his game preview, this is why Billy Beane traded for the left-hander:

“The A’s gave up a lot in Cespedes,” Kurkjian wrote, “yet they needed to add a No. 1 starter to their rotation, a guy with not just experience in October, but success in October, and Lester has been dominant in October. They couldn’t have a better guy pitching an elimination game than Lester.”

In a longer series, Oakland’s inability to score runs with any consistency will come back to haunt it. In a one-game scenario, though, anything can happen. Don’t sell the A’s short simply because the year didn’t end with the kind of bang it started with. 

Pittsburgh’s Potentially Disastrous Mistake

One thing the second wild card has done is put more of a premium on winning the division. That’s good news for the teams that do finish atop their division but bad news for teams that are forced to play catchup late in the season. 

Such is the case with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who used Francisco Liriano and Gerrit Cole on Saturday and Sunday trying to catch the St. Louis Cardinals atop the National League Central. If it would’ve worked, we would be praising Clint Hurdle for firing all the bullets in his chamber. 

Since it didn’t work, though, Hurdle is stuck using Edinson Volquez in a winner-take-all situation. This is the same Volquez who is playing on his fourth team since 2011 and walked 71 batters in 192.2 innings this year. 

Oh, and by the way, Madison Bumgarner is starting for San Francisco. So we have a situation where one of the best pitchers in baseball is going against a glorified journeyman in a game that you have to win. Volquez‘s 3.04 ERA glosses over the fact that he’s basically the same pitcher he was from 2011 to 2013.

Mike Petriello of FanGraphs wrote about the enigma that is Volquez and how his numbers this year are all over the place with respect to what he’s done the previous three years:

Volquez’ xFIP has been basically constant for the last four years, and his FIP has been the same, basically, since 2012. But his actual runs allowed have been all over the map. Last year, he under-performed his FIP by 1.47 runs/game; this year, he’sout-performing it by 1.11. By FIP-WAR, his 0.3 last year and 0.7 are essentially the same. By RA9-WAR, he’s jumped from -2.4 to 3.0, a massive swing. 

Petriello does note that Pittsburgh is a great place for seemingly over-the-hill pitchers to play as a way to resurrect their careers because the defense is so good. A.J. Burnett went from a burnout in New York to posting a 3.41 ERA with 389 strikeouts in 393.1 innings with the Pirates. 

Burnett left Pittsburgh for Philadelphia last winter and became the version we saw in New York (4.59 ERA, 96 walks). 

Volquez may be the latest beneficiary of the Pirates defense, but nothing in his performance suggests that he’s lost more than two runs off the 5.71 ERA he had last year.

There are only so many true No. 1 starters in baseball, but the Pirates are putting their postseason hopes on their fourth-best starting pitcher (Cole, Liriano and Charlie Morton, who had hip surgery and is out for the playoffs). 

The only other time Volquez pitched in the postseason was Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series against Philadelphia. That game was notable for featuring Roy Halladay’s no-hitter for the Phillies, but Volquez lasted just 1.2 innings and allowed four runs with two walks and no strikeouts. 

If something like that happens against Bumgarner, the Pirates’ playoff run is going to be very brief. 

If you want to talk sports, hit me up on Twitter. 

Follow @adamwells1985

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Tuesday’s American League Wild Card Game will feature two extremely different teams as the Kansas City Royals host the Oakland Athletics.

Both teams will be backed by excellent starting pitchers, with “Big Game” James Shields going for KC and former Boston Red Sox star Jon Lester taking the hill for Oakland.

Aside from that, though, each club will rely on a unique set of strengths in order to move on and face the Los Angeles Angels in the AL Divisional Series.

Essentially anything can happen in a one-game playoff situation, so every little detail will be absolutely huge for both the Royals and A’s during Tuesday night’s encounter.

With that in mind, here is a closer look at the biggest X-factors that will ultimately decide the first playoff game of 2014.

Bullpens

One thing that the Royals, Athletics and several other playoff teams have in common is the presence of a spectacular bullpen. Having power arms capable of closing out games is paramount in the current landscape of baseball. There is no question that Kansas City and Oakland possess that ability.

When discussing the Royals’ biggest assets, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com puts their pen at the very top of the list:

It is easy to see why when looking at what KC’s bullpen has to offer. Closer Greg Holland was spectacular all season long with a 1.44 ERA and 46 saves in 48 chances. Also, setup men Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera have been nearly unhittable at certain points this season.

All told, Royals relievers combined for 5.9 wins above replacement during the regular season, which was tied for the MLB‘s best mark with the New York Yankees, per FanGraphs.com.

The A’s have a dangerous bullpen in their own right, with closer Sean Doolittle leading the way. Fernando Abad and Luke Gregerson are trusted arms in late-game situations as well. With a bullpen ERA of 2.91 this season, Oakland ranked third in the league.

Although the expectation in this game is for both starters to pitch deep into the contest, things don’t always go according to plan. There is a very good chance that the bullpens will play a vital role, and the first one that blinks could end up losing it for their team.

Most teams work hard to get to their opponents’ pen, but that won’t be much of a reward on Tuesday. If it does come down to the bullpens, though, it could turn into a battle for the ages.

Royals’ Speed

Pure speed can be a great equalizer in sports, and that is often true in baseball. Some teams—like the Athletics—essentially choose to ignore speed for all intents and purposes.

That isn’t the case when it comes to the Royals, though. KC was first in the league this season with 153 stolen bases and a success rate of 81 percent.

It is no secret that KC will look to capitalize on that speed advantage during Tuesday’s AL Wild Card Game.

According to Dick Kaegel of MLB.com, the Royals’ lineup will feature Alcides Escobar, Nori Aoki and Lorenzo Cain batting first, second and third, respectively. That triumvirate combined for 76 swipes during the regular season.

Royals manager Ned Yost used the Red Sox for inspiration when he came up with this unorthodox lineup combination a couple of weeks ago, per Kaegel.

“We were struggling at that point, and we had just gotten through playing Boston, and they had a lot of speed at the top of their order that was creating havoc—guys were getting on base and running everywhere,” Yost said.

Since the Royals were MLB’s only team with less than 100 home runs this season, they need to manufacture runs in more creative ways. Stealing bases and taking the extra base in certain situations have proven to be successful strategies for Kansas City.

Those nuances are crucial in must-win games, and the Royals will be in such a scenario against the A’s. Kansas City’s small-ball approach doesn’t necessarily lend itself to huge offensive outbursts, but it may only take a timely run or two to win this game.

Athletics’ Power

While the Athletics aren’t necessarily known as a high-volume offensive team, they have proven to be more than capable of hitting the long ball. With 146 taters this season, the A’s bested the Royals by 51 in that department.

Third baseman Josh Donaldson and first baseman Brandon Moss spearhead the attack with a combined 54 homers. In addition to those players, Josh Reddick, Derek Norris, Coco Crisp and Adam Dunn all have plenty of pop. 

According to Joe Stiglich of Comcast SportsNet California, Donaldson views power as one of Oakland’s biggest advantages in the AL Wild Card Game:

With that said, the A’s have struggled in that regard since trading outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to Boston in exchange for Lester. Both Donaldson and Moss have been hampered by injuries in recent weeks, and it is impossible to know for sure how much they’re impacted by those ailments on a daily basis.

That is why Oakland’s power is such a true X-factor. Donaldson and Moss can both win games on their own with the home run ball, but that may not necessarily be in the cards for the remainder of the season. If Donaldson and Moss struggle, then the season could potentially last for just one more game.

Shields and the Royals’ bullpen have to be cognizant of Oakland’s power, regardless. Shields and Lester could engage in a pitchers’ duel, with a single run making the difference, and the Athletics can turn the tide with just one swing of the bat.

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One thing the Major League Baseball postseason teaches us is that after 162 games, we still don’t know anything about this game that’s so near and dear to our hearts. Looking at regular-season records and stats is only a guide, because once games start it’s all up in the air. 

That’s what keeps us watching, because if we could end up predicting these things with no actual guesswork involved it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. This year also feels different because there’s not one dominant team that stands out above the rest. 

Even the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals, who finished with the best records in the American League and National League, have flaws that can be exposed in the right matchup. With that out of the way, here are bold predictions for the postseason after we look at the playoff schedule. 

MLB.com

Bold Predictions

The Los Angeles Angels Will Be One-and-Done

Welcome to the postseason, Mike Trout! It’s nice having you here and eventually getting that MVP award you have deserved for the last three years. This is a great moment for baseball to have the best all-around player in the playoffs. 

Unfortunately for Trout and Angels fans, they are not going to be staying around long. 

It’s not like the Angels will be the first team in history to post the best record in the regular season only to lose in the Division Series, but regardless of whether they are playing Oakland or Kansas City, there won’t be a long playoff run in store for Mike Scioscia’s group. 

The one thing everyone says about October baseball is you need pitching to win, especially starting pitching. The Angels have Jered Weaver at the top, whose wins above replacement (WAR) has gone from 5.7 in 2010 and 2011 to 1.5 this year and ERA has gone from 2.41 in 2010 to 3.59 this year (per FanGraphs). 

After Weaver, the Angels are looking at a rotation that includes C.J. Wilson (4.51 ERA), Hector Santiago (3.75) and Matt Shoemaker, who hasn’t pitched since Sept. 15. Wilson and Santiago combined for 1.3 FanGraphs’ wins above replacement this season. 

Also, per Ted Keith of Sports Illustrated, the Angels weren’t exactly dominant against either of their potential Division Series opponents: 

Lastly, there is the fact that Los Angeles went just 10-9 against Oakland and 3-3 against Kansas City, the two potential opponents in the Division Series. In fact, the Angels were an even .500 (19-19) against the other AL postseason entrants, so their road to their first World Series since 2002 will be anything but smooth.

The Angels are one of the few teams in baseball that can put up a lot of runs in a hurry, but with a volatile rotation capable of imploding at any moment, the margin for error is so small for a team that won 98 games in the regular season. 

Preventing runs is critical to success in the postseason. The Angels had the second-best run differential in baseball this year, but allowed more runs than Baltimore, Oakland and Kansas City. Losing Garrett Richards was bad enough, but then Tyler Skaggs’ Tommy John surgery was the final blow that sealed their fate as a great regular-season team ready to fall short in October. 

Clayton Kershaw’s Greatness Won’t Get L.A. Far

In the NFL, a great quarterback can make an average team a Super Bowl contender by hiding other deficiencies thanks to his ability to create big plays down the field and command the game.

In Major League Baseball, a No. 1 starter can’t do that because he only controls one part of the game and is only able to pitch a maximum of three times in a seven-game series. Clayton Kershaw is the biggest difference-maker of any starting pitcher in baseball, but even he can’t get the Dodgers into a World Series. 

Last year, criticism fell on Kershaw’s shoulders for his disastrous performance in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against St. Louis (10 hits, seven earned runs in four innings). No one remembers that in three starts before that, he allowed one earned run with 23 strikeouts in 19 innings. 

The unfortunate part for Kershaw is that he plays on a team that’s not very good when he’s not on the mound. The Dodgers bullpen is terrible, finishing 22nd in ERA while posting the third-most walks. They have also never been a team that plays well against other good teams. 

Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated wrote in his Dodgers playoff preview that the team being 26 games over .500 in the regular season results almost exclusively from playing the worst teams in the National League West:

In all, the Dodgers have the most potent offense of any NL team outside of the Rockies (4.43 runs per game) while allowing 3.81 runs per game (seventh) en route to the league’s second-best record and run differential (+101). It’s worth noting, however, that they piled up the wins against the NL West’s lesser teams, going a combined 40-17 (.702) with a +75 run differential against the Padres, Rockies and Diamondbacks, but just 54-51 (.514) against the rest of their schedule.

The Dodgers are returning to the scene of last year’s playoff defeat, taking on St. Louis in the Division Series. Adam Wainwright may not be Kershaw, but he’s really good on his own with a 2.38 ERA and 4.5 FanGraphs’ wins above replacement. 

Los Angeles rates well as a defensive team overall, with 26 defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs, but the outfield was pedestrian with Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford all having below-average overall defensive ratings. 

Kershaw can do many things on a baseball field, but he can’t catch balls not hit to him and the team has been average against anyone besides the bottom three teams in the National League West. That’s why the Dodgers won’t make it to the World Series. 

Washington Will Win the World Series

Despite my earlier talk about no great teams in baseball right now, picking the World Series winner was among the easiest tasks of all the playoff predictions because they meet all the criteria that we look for when evaluating a championship team. 

The Nationals had the best rotation by ERA (3.04) in baseball this year. They have five starters with a legitimate argument to start in the postseason, and three finished with an ERA under 3.00 (Jordan Zimmermann, Tanner Roark, Doug Fister). 

ESPN’s Doug Glanville had the best “analysis” on which starter opposing teams may want to pick on:

Their bullpen finished strong after Drew Storen moved back to the closer’s role, finishing fourth with a 3.00 ERA. They have above-average or better defenders at shortstop (Ian Desmond), third base (Anthony Rendon) and catcher (Wilson Ramos). 

The one Achilles heel that seemed to be holding the Nationals back was on offense. Overall, the numbers are strong with the eighth-best on-base percentage (.321), ninth-most runs (686) and 10th-best slugging percentage (.393). 

Any problems with the bat seem to have been fixed in August, which is when Bryce Harper started looking like the slugger we all expected him to be before that injury earlier in the season. He hit 10 of his 13 homers in the final two months, which gave the Nationals a nice trio in the middle of their order with Rendon and Adam LaRoche. 

Every other team has a notable flaw that you can single out as a reason why it won’t win the World Series. The Cardinals don’t score runs; the Dodgers are average when Kershaw isn’t on the mound; the Pirates are relying on Edinson Volquez in their rotation. 

The Nationals are the best and most complete team in baseball entering the postseason and will capture the first World Series title in franchise history. 

If you want to talk sports, hit me up on Twitter. 

Follow @adamwells1985

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