2013 NLCS by the numbers: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

2013 National League Championship Series

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Oct. 11-19

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis (Games 1-2, 6-7 if necessary); Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles (Games 3-5 if necessary)

2013 record vs. Cardinals: 4-3

Last postseason meeting: 2009, Dodgers won 3-0

*- Denotes not on NLCS roster

Game 1: Zack Greinke vs. Joe Kelly

Greinke career vs. Cardinals: 8-3, 3.10 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 7.5 K/9

Kelly career vs. Dodgers: 1-1, 3.72 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 4.7 K/9

NLDS numbers

Greinke: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Kelly: 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K

Cardinals hitters vs. Greinke

Matt Holliday: 9-for-26 (.346), 2 HR, 2 BB, 2 K
Yadier Molina: 7-for-22 (.318), 2 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
Jon Jay: 6-for-22 (.273), 1 BB, 2 K
David Freese: 6-for-18 (.333), 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 BB, 3 K
Daniel Descalso: 2-for-11 (.182), 1 2B, 2 K
Matt Carpenter: 3-for-7 (.429), 1 2B, 1 K
Carlos Beltran: 1-for-7 (.143), 1 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
Tony Cruz: 1-for-3
Adam Wainwright: 0-for-3, 1 SH, 2 K
Adron Chambers: 1-for-2, 1 BB, 1 K

- Holliday is always a dangerous hitter while it's probably best to throw out regular season numbers when talking about Beltran and his Babe Ruthian performance in October.

Dodgers hitters vs. Kelly

Andre Ethier: 2-for-8 (.250), 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 K
A.J. Ellis: 1-for-8 (.125), 4 K
Adrian Gonzalez: 4-for-7 (.571), 1 HR, 1 2B
Hanley Ramirez: 2-for-7 (.286), 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K
Mark Ellis: 0-for-7
Nick Punto: 4-for-5 (.800), 1 2B, 1 BB
Carl Crawford: 2-for-3, 1 2B
Yasiel Puig: 1-for-2, 1 BB
Dee Gordon: 1-for-2, 1 K
Clayton Kershaw: 0-for-2, 1 K
Juan Uribe: 0-for-2
Chris Capuano*: 0-for-1
Scott Van Slyke: 0-for-1

- Gonzalez is the butter and egg man here, with Ethier chipping in a home run. Kelly has struck out 10 Dodgers in his career -- four times it's been A.J. Ellis taking the fall.

Game 2: Clayton Kershaw vs. Michael Wacha

Kershaw career vs. Cardinals: 4-5, 3.75 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 8.2 K/9

Wacha career vs. Dodgers: Never faced

NLDS numbers

Kershaw: 13 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 13 K
Wacha: 7 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 9 K

Cardinals hitters vs. Kershaw

Holliday: 9-for-30 (.300), 1 2B, 10 BB, 7 K
Beltran: 5-for-22 (.227), 2 2B, 2 BB, 8 K
Molina: 5-for-19 (.263), 2 2B, 3 BB, 4 K
Freese: 3-for-15 (.200), 1 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
Carpenter: 2-for-12 (.167), 2 K
Jay: 1-for-6 (.167), 1 2B, 1 BB, 3 K
Pete Kozma: 4-for-5 (.800), 3 2B
Wainwright: 2-for-4 (.500), 1 2B, 1 SH 2 BB, 1 K
Descalso: 2-for-4 (.500), 2 BB
Cruz: 1-for-3
Shane Robinson: 1-for-3
Kelly: 0-for-2
Shelby Miller: 0-for-2, 1 K

- Holliday has a positive K:BB rate and, of course, Kozma has hit him the best because baseball.

Dodgers hitters vs. Wacha

Never faced

- All you need to know is Wacha has almost thrown two no-hitters in the last month. He's damn good.

Game 3: Adam Wainwright vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu

Wainwright career vs. Dodgers: 4-4, 3.10 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 6.2 K/9

Ryu career vs. Cardinals: 1-0, 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

NLDS numbers

Wainwright: 16 IP, 11 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 15 K
Ryu: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Dodgers hitters vs. Wainwright

Ethier: 9-for-30 (.300), 2 HR, 3 2B, 3 BB, 7 K
Ramirez: 5-for-24 (.208), 3 BB, 5 K
Gonzalez: 4-for-16 (.250), 1 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
Mark Ellis: 1-for-12 (.083), 2 K
Uribe: 3-for-11 (.273), 2 K
Crawford: 2-for-7 (.286), 1 K
Kershaw: 0-for-5, 1 SH, 1 K
A.J. Ellis: 0-for-5, 1 K
Greinke: 1-for-4, 1 SH, 2 K
Puig: 1-for-3, 2 K
Michael Young: 0-for-3
Punto: 1-for-2, 1 2B, 1 BB
Ricky Nolasco: 0-for-1

- If Ethier is good to go, it'll be an nice boost. Not a whole lot of success otherwise.

Cardinals hitters vs. Ryu

Freese: 2-for-3, 1 K
Holliday: 2-for-3
Carpenter: 1-for-3, 1 K
Beltran: 0-for-3
Jay: 0-for-3
Kozma: 0-for-2, 1 K
Seth Maness: 0-for-1, 1 K
Carlos Martinez: 0-for-1, 1 K

- Ryu gave up one unearned run in seven innings, so it's easy to see why there hasn't been a lot of success by the Cardinals against the southpaw.

Game 3: Lance Lynn vs. Ricky Nolasco

Lynn career vs. Dodgers: 2-0, 2.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 10.5 K/9

Nolasco career vs. Cardinals: 3-4, 3.84 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 6.3 K/9

NLDS numbers

Lynn: 4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 6 K
Nolasco: Did not pitch

Dodgers hitters vs. Lynn

Mark Ellis: 2-for-9 (.222), 3 K
A.J. Ellis: 1-for-7 (.143), 4 K
Ethier: 1-for-6 (.167), 2 BB
Young: 0-for-5, 1 BB, 4 K
Gordon: 0-for-5, 1 K
Gonzalez: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K
Ramirez: 0-for-3, 2 K
Uribe: 1-for-2, 1 2B, 1 BB
Punto: 0-for-2, 1 K

- Lynn has been downright dominant against the Dodgers in his two career appearances.

Cardinals hitters vs. Ryu

Beltran: 16-for-47 (.340), 1 HR, 6 BB, 11 K
Holliday: 12-for-26 (.462), 2 HR, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 2 K
Jay: 7-for-13 (.538), 1 2B, 1 K
Desclaso: 4-for-13 (.308), 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
Freese: 6-for-12 (.500), 1 2B, 3 K
Molina: 3-for-11, 1 K
Cruz: 0-for-10, 2 K
Carpenter: 1-for-5, 1 K
Matt Adams: 0-for-5, 3 K
Wainwright: 0-for-2, 1 SH, 1 K

- Yikes, the Cards absolutely destroy Nolasco, though, his career numbers against them aren't that terrible.

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This is going to be a long series, and the pitching options could change as the series progresses. These teams are evenly matched, with the Dodgers having the advantage of setting up their pitchers the way they want.

The offense is going to have to continue what it has done in the postseason thus far.

Photo credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue