Due to the past success of the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants in October, we already knew the National League Championship Series would be a fight to the bitter end. Through two games of compelling baseball, that thought looms large.
The Giants earned a huge road win in Game 1, as Madison Bumgarner continued his playoff brilliance. San Francisco's lineup got to Adam Wainwright early, and before we knew it, the Giants pitched a shutout thanks to continued stellar play from their bullpen.
With St. Louis down a game, it entered a must-win scenario in Game 2 and didn't disappoint. Thanks to solid relief pitching—sans a poor day from Trevor Rosenthal—and some late-game heroics from Kolten Wong, the series moves to San Francisco all knotted up at one game each.
So, which team will successfully break this deadlock and earn a pivotal Game 3 victory? Before we predict the answer to that question, let's first take a look at the contest's essential viewing information.
Viewing Information
Series: Tied 1-1
Where: AT&T Park in San Francisco, California
When: Tuesday, October 14
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Channel: Fox Sports 1
Live Stream: MLB.TV (subscription required)
Preview and Prediction
As if these two teams couldn't be any more evenly matched, the Giants are starting Tim Hudson and the Cardinals are going with John Lackey in Game 3. How does this pitching matchup make this impending contest even more of a toss-up? Take a look at each starter's postseason numbers this year:
It doesn't get much closer than that.
These teams match up evenly in regard to their starters, but what about depth in the bullpen? Looking back through two games in this series, both teams' relievers surrendered runs; however, St. Louis had the better staff in Game 2, as three separate San Francisco relievers gave up a run.
Still, the Giants now return home, and their bullpen was magnificent before Sunday's contest. The three runs given up by relievers over the last three innings may be more of an outlier than anything. After all, take a look at these telling stats before Sunday's contest, via Richard Justice of MLB.com:
Regardless, considering the ability of Hudson and Lackey to go seven-plus innings, we may not see much bullpen work from either squad in Game 3.
Should the Giants go to their bullpen, it will be interesting to see if they finally put Tim Lincecum into action. Although, a tweet from Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com doesn't look promising:
One big difference between these two teams is how they've generated runs in the postseason. A side-by-side comparison is very telling:
In a far different trend from the regular season, St. Louis has suddenly discovered the long ball, while San Francisco has been relying more on manufacturing runs with consistent plate appearances across its lineup.
Taking this into consideration, the Giants get the slight upper hand in Game 3. Hudson was fired up and emotional in his last victory, and we should expect to see more of the same from him as he prepares to take the mound in a stadium full of supportive fans. It's just difficult to see the Cardinals notching many deep balls in that scenario.
Prediction: Giants 4, Cardinals 2
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