NLCS matchups: Bitter rivals face off for trip to World Series

Game 1: Sunday, 1 p.m. St. Louis (LHP Jaime Garcia, 13-7, 3.56) at Milwaukee (RHP Zack Greinke, 16-6, 3.83)

Game 2: Monday, 5 p.m. St. Louis (RHP Edwin Jackson, 12-9, 3.79)) at Milwaukee (RHP Shaun Marcum, 13-7, 3.54, or LHP Randy Wolf, 13-10, 3.69)

Game 3: Wednesday, 5 p.m. Milwaukee (RHP Yovani Gallardo, 17-10, 3.52) at St. Louis (Chris Carpenter, 11-9, 3.45)

Game 4: Thursday, 5 p.m. Milwaukee (Marcum or Wolf) at St. Louis (RHP Kyle Lohse, 14-8, 3.39)

Game 5: Friday, 5 p.m.* Milwaukee (Greinke) at St. Louis (Garcia)

Game 6: Oct. 16, 1 p.m.* St Louis (Jackson) at Milwaukee (Marcum or Wolf)

Game 7: Oct. 17, 5 p.m.* St. Louis (Carpenter) at Milwaukee (Gallardo)

*-if necessary | All times PDT

Projected lineups

P ST. LOUIS AVG. HR RBI
SS Rafael Furcal .231 8 43
CF Jon Jay .297 10 37
1B Albert Pujols .299 37 99
RF Lance Berkman .301 31 94
LF Matt Holliday .296 22 75
C Yadier Molina .305 14 65
3B David Freese .297 10 55
2B Nick Punto .278 1 20
P Jaime Garcia .097 1 6

P MILWAUKEE AVG. HR RBI
RF Corey Hart .285 26 63
CF Nyjer Morgan .304 4 37
LF Ryan Braun .332 33 111
1B Prince Fielder .299 38 120
2B Rickie Weeks .269 20 49
3B Jerry Hairston .270 5 31
SS Yuniesky Betancourt .252 13 68
C Jonathan Lucroy .265 12 59
P Zack Greinke .143 1 1

Keys to the series

These teams don’t like each other. Any pretense of civility between the division rivals vanished early last month, when the Brewers visited the Cardinals. At the center of the controversy was Nyjer Morgan, the irreverent Brewers outfielder also known by his alias, “Tony Plush.” Struck out by Chris Carpenter, Morgan hurled a wad of chewing tobacco toward the mound, prompting Albert Pujols to charge in his direction and igniting a bench-clearing incident. Morgan took to Twitter that night, referring to Pujols as “Alberta” and chirping, “I hope those crying birds injoy [sic] watching tha [sic] Crew in tha [sic] playoffs!!!” The Cardinals were 6 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the wild-card race at the time. They haven’t faced the Brewers since. For the Cardinals to advance to the World Series, they will have to erase the Brewers’ home-field advantage. The Brewers have won 60 games at Miller Park this year, including three in the division series. The Cardinals will be without Skip Schumaker, who strained a side muscle in the final game of the NLDS. The Brewers’ offense is largely reliant on the two most-valuable-player candidates in the middle of their order: Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Braun and Fielder were a combined 11 for 23 with two home runs and six runs batted in in the Brewers’ three NLDS victories over the Arizona Diamondbacks; they were one for 15 in the two losses. The Brewers have a superior bullpen, as closer John Axford’s blown save in Game 5 of the NLDS was his first since April 18. But the Cardinals have something the Brewers don’t have: a dominant ace in Chris Carpenter, who outpitched Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies in the deciding game of the NLDS. This series could be decided by how the Brewers’ Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf recover from uncharacteristically awful starts in the previous round.