National League Championship Series Game 1 Thread: Dodgers @ Cardinals

What do you think it's like to have a $147 million ace pitcher to throw into game 1 of a playoff series? Orioles fans may never know, but Dodgers fans get to find out as Zach Greinke takes the mound in St. Louis tonight. With a 2.63 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP on the season, Greinke was one of the best pitchers in baseball, if still nowhere near as good as his teammate Clayton Kershaw, who will be appearing later in the series.

For the Cardinals, it is Joe Kelly. The best thing going for him is he is on the Cardinals. Their dark powers are strong. How else can you explain their roster, particularly the presence of Michael Wacha, who was taken with the draft pick acquired for losing Albert Pujols? That's not even fair, man. To say nothing of all the rest of that team.

Did you know that they had an .865 OPS with runners in scoring position in the regular season? That's over 100 points of OPS higher than their nearest National League competition. They had an OBP over .400 when men were in scoring position, and slugged .463. Their team batting with RISP was higher than any member of the Orioles in all situations except for Chris Davis. That is just stupid.

I have had it up to here with the Cardinals and their shenanigans. Sure, I'd rather see them win than the Red Sox if it came down to that, but I would take no joy in their winning. The Cardinals are basically everything the Orioles could be and aren't. Screw those guys.