NLCS Schedule 2014: Complete Viewing Info, Prediction for Giants vs. Cardinals

The 2014 National League Championship Series features two teams that overcame extremely difficult postseason opponents to remain alive in mid-October—the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis was a 90-win team in the regular season; however, that earned the Cardinals the right to face Clayton Kershaw and the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers. Not only did the Cardinals win the series in four games, they beat the Dodgers ace twice in the process.

San Francisco first had to travel across the country and defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game for the right to face the Washington Nationals. The Giants defeated Stephen Strasburg in Game 1, and a resurgent rotation finished off Washington in just four games.

Taking those aforementioned matchups into consideration, we should be expecting the unexpected in this series. As we await the impending fireworks, and the NL's ambassador to the World Series, let's take a look at the full NLCS schedule and predict its ultimate outcome.

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Home	Away	Channel
1	Sat., Oct. 11	8 p.m.	Cardinals	Giants	Fox
2	Sun., Oct. 12	8 p.m.	Cardinals	Giants	FS1
3	Tue., Oct. 14	4 p.m.	Giants	Cardinals	FS1
4	Wed., Oct. 15	8 p.m.	Giants	Cardinals	FS1
5*	Thu., Oct. 16	8 p.m.	Giants	Cardinals	FS1
6*	Sat., Oct. 18	4 p.m.	Cardinals	Giants	Fox
7*	Sun., Oct. 19	7:30 p.m.	Cardinals	Giants	FS1

*denotes "as necessary" games

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

NLCS Prediction

If a series ever came with the moniker of "completely unpredictable," this would be it. While the Giants have advantages in certain categories, the Cardinals have the clear upper hand in others. There are so many different contributing factors to each team's postseason victories to this point, deciphering which ones will carry through to the next series becomes a daunting task.

One thing is for certain: Both of these teams will continue to rely heavily on solid pitching, defense and manufacturing runs to earn wins. Neither the Cardinals nor the Giants are huge slugging teams, so we can expect a close, low-scoring series.

The Giants entered October with a bullpen that looked more like a hindrance than anything; however, in typical San Francisco fashion, everything began to click in the playoffs, as the team's pitching staff limited the Nationals to two runs or fewer in three of four contests. Entering the NLCS, the Giants have the lowest ERA (1.33) of any remaining team.

The team also has an untapped weapon residing in the bullpen, via MLB:

With the pitching staff rolling along, all San Francisco needed to do was score just enough runs to advance deeper into October. The team did so by playing small ball. In fact, the Giants hit just one home run through four games against the Nationals, maintaining a similar trend from the regular season (ranked 17th).

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Aside from a thrilling 10-9 victory in Game 1 over the Dodgers, the Cardinals have notched wins in similar fashion to the Giants. The team's all-around pitching has been solid to this point in the postseason. Entering the NLCS, St. Louis boasts a 3.86 ERA, which isn't bad considering the Game 1 slugfest against Los Angeles.

On the offensive side of the ball, however, it's been a completely different story. The Cardinals didn't generate as many hits at the Dodgers in three of their four NLDS games, as St. Louis constantly relied on the long ball, racking up seven home runs which accounted for 13 of its 18 runs. But, that seems to be an outlier considering the team ranked 29th in the league in that department in the regular season.

The Cardinals may not have the upper hand in Game 1. Adam Wainwright is a tremendous regular-season pitcher, but he's continued to struggle in the playoffs. He enters the NLCS with a 12.46 ERA and gives the Giants a good chance to begin the series with a big road win.

Making matters worse, there has been recent concern over an elbow injury. We'll have to wait and see if he's 100 percent, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweeted some early good news:

While it seems as though Wainwright will be healthy, and Lance Lynn and John Lackey have been solid thus far, San Francisco's rotation has just been better.

Expect the rotation of Jake Peavy, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong to limit the slugging opportunities for the Cardinals while the Giants take control of the series early and hang on to advance deeper into October.

Prediction: Giants in six