The Chicago Cubs will play the St Louis Cardinals on Friday night in Game 1 of their National League Division Series (NLDS). The MLB 2015 Playoffs are well and truly underway now and these teams will be desperate to get their noses in front tonight in this shorter best of five series. The game has a scheduled start time of 6.30 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the TBS network. The game can also be watched online through MLB.tv live stream via the link below.
Today's game comes from Busch Stadium in St Louis, Missouri, and the Cardinals will know how important it is to make home field advantage count. Games 1 and 2 will be taking place in St Louis before Games 3 and 4 (if needed) more to Chicago.
Obviously the goal for the Cardinals will be to depart St Louis in a few days time with a 2-0 lead, which would put them in complete command of the series and mean they can play with freedom and little pressure when things get to Chicago.
Oppositely Chicago will be hoping to steal at least one game from their two game road trip to St Louis. If they can come back home to Chicago with things level at 1-1 then they would know they could end the series at home with two straight home wins. Of course, dream land would be for the Cubs to steal two wins in St Louis, which would make them massive favorites to progress.
This series will be the first time ever that these two franchises have met in the postseason, and for tonight's opener, there will be a starting pitchers line up of Jon Lester vs John Lackey.
Left handed Lester posted a season record of 11-12 with a 3.34 ERA and 207 SO's. Former teammate Lackey in comparison recorded 13-10 for a 2.77 ERA and 175 SO's.
However, Lester has a solid postseason record of 6-4 with a 2.57 ERA in 14 Playoff games (12 of them being starts). Against St Louis specifically this year, Lester had a 2.59 ERA, so he should feel comfortable and confident coming into today's game.
Lackey meanwhile leads all active pitchers in the MLB with 117 postseason innings, and when he takes to the mound tonight he will top all active pitchers for Playoffs starts, of which this will be his 19th. He is hugely experienced and St Louis fans will feel confident they can get off to a winning start with Lackey leading their charge. Lackey has a career postseason ERA of 3.08 and an amazing 1.93 ERA at Busch Stadium this year.
Tonight's huge MLB 2015 Playoffs game between the Chicago Cubs and the St Louis Cardinals has a start time of 6.30 p.m. ET. Game 1 of this NLDS can be watched on TV on the TBS network or online through live stream by clicking here.
