The National League Championship Series gets underway tonight as the St. Louis Cardinals (The Bible Belt) will be hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers (City of Angels) in one of the most anticipated match-ups in recent years. On one hand you have the fundamentally sound Cardinals team lead by Adam Wainwright and Carlos Beltran who is undoubtedly the best postseason hitter in the game. On the opposite of the diamond you have the Dodgers, a scrappy gung-ho team made up of me-first mentality players and only one guy who has been to the promised land and back, Juan Uribe in 2006 with the Chicago White Sox. History hasn’t proven much between the two ball clubs as the Cardinals have the NLCS record 1-0 thanks in part to a 4-3 series win back in 1985 before the red birds lost the World Series to their in-state rival the Kansas City Royals. '

Collectively the franchise postseason series is at 2-1 in favor of the Cardinals as both teams beat their respective rival in the national League Division Series, the Dodgers won last in 2009 and the Cardinals took the first in 2004. As it stands now the success rate for both teams winning the World Series after playing one another stands at 0-3 however. But, this is a new year and new teams who are both trying to add another notch into their belt. Who’s got what it takes?

Zack Greinke will be taking the mound for the Dodgers which will be his fifth playoff appearance of his career. Greinke faired decently in his most recent outing against the Atlanta Braves, but was met with a loss after giving up two earned runs off of four hits in six innings. The unfortunate thing for Dodgers fans is that his postseason outings previous to that is that they were in 2009 and against the Cardinals. Greinke’s playoff scrap with the Cardinals came during the NLCS when he was a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. In fact, Greinke split both of his decisions, winning his first outing after giving up six earned runs in six innings of work and losing his second outing in Game Five after allowing only two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. To make things even crazier, Greinke has an incredible 8-3 record against the Cardinals with a 3.10 ERA and is 3-1 with a 2.28 ERA and 19 strikeouts lifetime at New Busch Field. Greinke only made one start against the Cardinals in 2013 which ended with a road win for him and the Dodgers despite allowing two earned runs off of eight hits and one walk. If the Dodgers are going to get anything done they need to give Greinke run support. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are both hitting .600 or better against Joe Kelly and will have to continue to serve as the offensive catalysts for the Dodgers if they have any shot of stealing one on the road.

Kelly started out the season as a long reliever but got worked into the rotation late in the season as a point of necessity for the Cardinals. He didn’t do that bad either, 10-4 specifically in games he started with a 2.69 ERA and 79 punch outs on the year. Kelly has faced the Dodgers twice in 2013, the first of which came on May 25th in the second inning after starter John Gast was removed due to injury. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Kelly got shelled for six earned runs before getting yanked at the end of the fourth inning. His second outing against the Dodgers, a start, was much smoother on August 6th as Kelly only allowed one run on six hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. What can be analyzed in all of this is that Kelly is still maturing as a pitcher, but works more effectively if he’s able to start a game rather than finish one. It’s only his second season, but if the playoffs have told anyone anything thus far it’s that experience is overrated. Just ask Michael Wacha. The two bats for the Cardinals who will potentially be key in this series are Yadier Molina and David Freese. Freese is obviously a playoff legend as it is, but to make things worse for the Dodgers he’s batting .344 with four doubles, a home run and four RBI on the year against them. Molina is batting .400 with a dinger and six RBI on the year against the Boys in Blue.

Based on the tale of the tape there really appears that there isn’t really any kind of a specific advantage for either team. Both have great pitchers and a few solid pitchers and both certainly have a lot of firepower in the batting order. The Cardinals though, certainly have a more sound defensive core. Throwing and fielding errors may be the straw that breaks the camels back for the Dodgers in the series. As it is, Greinke and the Dodgers certainly have the edge tonight based on the stats and even with the Cardinals having the home field advantage. Look for the Dodgers to squeak one out tonight.