It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t easy, but the St. Louis Cardinals are once again champions of the National League Central Division.
Through all the struggles, losing Yadier Molina for around 40 games, and the offensive lapses at times, the Cardinals never stopped fighting, and continue to display the late season magic that has become synonymous with St. Louis over the past few years. They finished the 2014 regular season with a record of 90-72, something many fans a few months ago did not believe would happen.
While the Washington Nationals will take on the wild card team (whether it be the Pirates or Giants), the Cardinals will take on a familiar playoff foe: the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It was the Dodgers that they had beaten last year in the NLCS to advance to the World Series.
This NLDS clash between St. Louis and Los Angeles will defined by one aspect…pitching.
Both teams have two of the best pitchers in baseball…the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, and the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright. But those aren’t the only two good pitchers for each team’s rotation. For the Dodgers, you have Zack Greinke, who finished the season with a 17-8 record and a respectable 2.71 ERA. Rounding out the rest of their rotation, there is also former Cardinal pitcher Dan Haren, who finished the year 13-11 with a 4.02 ERA, Roberto Hernandez who struggled to an 8-11 record and 4.10 ERA, and Kevin Correia, who finished 7-17 with a 5.44 ERA.
As for the Cardinals, in addition to Wainwright, there is the highly underrated Lance Lynn. Lynn had an amazing second half of the season, after having a decent, but not great, first half. He ended up finishing the year with a 15-10 record and a 2.74 ERA, well below his career ERA of 3.46.
Then there is John Lackey, who the Cardinals had acquired a couple of months ago, while getting rid of Joe Kelly and Allen Craig. Lackey, who turns 36 in late October, is the most experienced pitcher in the Cardinals’ rotation, with 11 years in MLB. This season, he finished with a 14-10 record and an ERA of 3.82, which, like Lynn, is also lower than his career average ERA of 4.03.
For the fourth spot in the playoff rotation, it will most likely be between Justin Masteron and Shelby Miller. Masterson, the former Indians’ pitcher, who had injury issues this season, didn’t play consistently well, finishing 7-9 with an ERA of 5.88. He has shown in the past the ability he has, but overall, it was a lackluster 2014 campaign.
Then, there is Shelby Miller. The 23-year old right-hander had a strong close to the season, with the Cardinals having a record of 4-1 in the month of September in games that were started by Miller. Overall, he finished the season with a 10-9 record and a 3.74 ERA. Miller was also taught by Masterson a sinker that he has used.
It remains to be seen who are the final pitchers in both the Cardinals’ and Dodgers’ rotations will be, especially the final spot in the rotation for both teams.
Game 1 is officially set for Friday night at Dodger Stadium, with Wainwright vs Kershaw in a battle between Cy Young candidates (Wainwright finished 20-9 with a 2.38 ERA, which was good for third in the league, while Kershaw finished 21-3 and leads the league with a 1.77 ERA).
While Clayton Kershaw is one of the best in the game right now, he’s struggled against the Cardinals before. Back in the 2013 NLCS, he was out-dueled by a young rookie named Michael Wacha…not once, but twice, the second time being a 9-0 Dodgers’ defeat sending the Cardinals to the World Series.
The National League Divisional Series between the Cardinals and Dodgers is shaping up to be a good one, with two of the most storied franchises in history going at it once again in the postseason.
There’s no baseball like October baseball.
