PostCards: NLCS Game 5 – St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

The St. Louis Cardinals take on the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon in Game 5 of the NLCS.
October 15, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay (19) and right fielder Shane Robinson (43) celebrate the 4-2 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game four of the National League Championship Series baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Image Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
For the Dodgers, they would need to win in order to stave off the threat of elimination. The Cardinals, however, would like to accomplish the same thing they did 28 years ago today and two years ago today: win the National League pennant…without the drama.

Joe Kelly (10‐5, 2.69; 0‐0, 3.00) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Zack Greinke (15‐4, 2.63; 0‐0, 2.25) this afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

The Cards have some history when it comes to Game 5’s of the NLCS: Thet are 4-6 all-time, including a 1-4 record on the road. In overall Game 5’s, the club is 14-17. Before losing last year to the San Francisco Giants, they had won 3 straight NLCS Game 5’s. The only NLCS Game 5 win on the road came in Houston when Albert Pujols crushed a home run to bring it back to Busch Stadium for a final postseason game.

On this date in Cardinals history, they clinched the National League pennant in 1985 and 2011 by defeating the Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers, respectively. Overall, the Cardinals are 2-5 in postseason play on October 16th. Let’s hope for a win this time around.

Cardinals Lineup:
Matt Carpenter 2B
Carlos Beltran RF
Matt Holliday LF
Matt Adams 1B
Yadier Molina C
Jon Jay CF
David Freese 3B
Pete Kozma SS
Joe Kelly P

Dodgers Lineup:
Carl Crawford LF
Mark Ellis 2B
Hanley Ramirez SS
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Andre Ethier CF
Yasiel Puig RF
Juan Uribe 3B
A.J. Ellis C
Zack Greinke P