Today at 3 p.m. ET, the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals kick off their best-of-five National League Division series with Game 1 action live from Nationals Park in Washington. The game can be live streamed for free here. San Francisco fans can hear all of the action on KNBR 1050 while Washington fans can do the same on WFED 1100.
San Francisco clinched the NL West division crown with an 88-74 season and shut out the Pirates in Pittsburgh 8-0 on Tuesday in the NL Wild-Card game. The Giants have made the postseason for the third time in five years and the other two trips ended with the only two World Series titles the team has won since its move from New York.
Washington won the NL East for the second time in three seasons with an NL-best 96-66 record and will hope to last longer than it did in 2012 as the Nationals fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games in the NLDS two years ago.
Jake Peavy (6-4, 2.17 ERA with San Francisco; 7-13, 3.73 ERA overall) toes the rubber for the Giants while the Nationals counter with Stephen Strasburg, who is making his postseason debut and went 14-11 this season with a 3.14 ERA.
The Nationals boast a solid starting rotation and manager Matt Williams had plenty of arms to draw from, but he chose to thrust the 26-year-old Strasburg, who tied for the NL lead with 242 strikeouts, into his postseason debut right off the bat.
"Stephen in particular has gotten stronger as this month has gone on," Williams told MLB.com. "He's healthy and strong, and he's looking forward to this opportunity."
If Strasburg gets into trouble, Williams knows he can turn to his fourth-ranked bullpen for some help.
While San Francisco's rotation may be older than that of Washington, Peavy brings a winning pedigree into Game 1 having won the World Series with the Red Sox last October.
The Giants will hope that the big bats in the middle of their lineup will get to Strasburg early. One San Francisco player that showed he has the talent to come through when it matters most was shortstop Brandon Crawford, who launched a grand slam against the Pirates in the wild-card game to stake the Giants to a 4-0 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"When it comes to the playoffs, every team is going to have talent," Crawford said via MLB.com. "I don't know if it's going to come down to heart or whatever, but I'm sure both teams are going to be playing hard."
The Nationals won five of seven games against the Giants this season, taking three of four in San Francisco in June and two of three in Washington in August. The Giants have won eight straight playoff games.
Catcher Buster Posey and outfielder Hunter Pence have been two of the driving forces behind the success for San Francisco this season.
Posey ranked fourth in the NL with a .311 batting average and paced San Francisco with 22 homers and 89 RBI in the regular season while Pence ranked second in the NL in runs (106) and triples (10-tied), third in hits (180) and fourth in total bases (289).
The Nationals boast some league leaders of their own in second baseman Anthony Rendon and outfielders Denard Span and Jayson Werth.
Rendon led the NL with 111 runs and finished third with 290 total bases while Span, who led Washington with a .302 batting average, ranked tied for first in the NL in hits (184) and fifth in stolen bases (31) and Werth finished third in the NL with a .394 on-base percentage and fifth with 83 walks.
First baseman Adam LaRoche led the Nationals with 26 homers and 92 RBI.
The MLB postseason continues when the Giants and Nationals take the field at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. for NLDS Game 1.
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