The NLDS matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals is the only playoff series in which one team has not taken a 2-0 lead. After a big win on Saturday, the Dodgers will travel to St. Louis on Monday night to face John Lackey and the Cardinals in Game 3.
We've already seen the top two offenses in the MLB - the Angels and Tigers - eliminated from the postseason at the hands of the Royals and Orioles. The Dodgers had the sixth-best scoring offense in the MLB this season, but they managed to even the series 1-1 with the St. Louis Cardinals after a dramatic 3-2 victory on Saturday night.
With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp smacked a solo home run off of Cardinals reliever Pat Neshek to take the lead. Kenley Jansen sealed the victory with his third career postseason save and the Dodgers avoided the current trend of falling two games behind in the division series matchups. Los Angeles' Zack Greinke and St. Louis' Lance Lynn gave strong outings, but neither received a decision. The Dodgers will send left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu to the mound in St. Louis on Monday night at 9:07 p.m. to face John Lackey.
Ryu is 1-0 in two career postseason starts, including a win in last year's NLCS against the Cardinals in which he threw seven scoreless innings and gave up only three hits and a walk. But this year Ryu will face St. Louis on the road against an experienced starter in Lackey. Last year with the Red Sox, Lackey was 3-1 in four starts (five total appearances) with a 2.77 ERA and helped Boston to a World Series championship. Since joining the Cardinals in a trade earlier this season, Lackey is 3-3 in 10 starts with a 4.30 ERA. Eight of his 10 starts consisted of outings in which he gave up two earned runs or fewer, and the team has won six of those games.
But the Dodgers seemingly have the upper hand in this matchup because of Ryu's successful 2014 campaign (14-7 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 26 starts) coupled with their high-powered offense that scored 718 runs this season (sixth in the MLB) and had a team batting average of .265 (third in the MLB). St. Louis was 16th in the MLB this season for average against left-handed pitchers (.254) and 20th in hits (353). However, the Cardinals knocked around the MLB's best pitcher on Friday, left-hander Clayton Kershaw, so those statistics might not apply to St. Louis during the postseason.
The Dodgers have the two best hitters in the postseason thus far in A.J. Ellis (.625 average with one home run and two RBIs) and Matt Kemp (.556 average with one home run and two RBIs), and they'll look to take the series lead against the Cardinals tonight in hopes of getting revenge for last year's NLCS defeat.
