Tonight at 9 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals take the field for NLDS Game 3 action live from Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The game can be live streamed for free here. Los Angeles fans can hear all of the action on Fox Sports 570 while St. Louis fans can do the same on KMOX 1100.
This is a pivotal swing game in this series as Los Angeles looks to pick up a big road win after a home split while St. Louis had a huge road win of their own in Game 1 and will try to win two at home to ensure that the series will not swing back to L.A.
Hyun-Jin Ryu (14-7, 3.38 ERA) toes the rubber for the Dodgers while the Cardinals counter with John Lackey, who went 14-10 with a 3.82 ERA this season.
St. Louis took a wild Game 1 by a 10-9 margin on Friday while Los Angeles bounced back Saturday in Game 2, notching a big 3-2 win.
Ryu will be pitching for the first time since Sept. 12 due to a shoulder issue, but the team is confident he'll be fine to make just his third-career postseason start.
"One thing about Hyun-Jin that's kind of encouraging for us is this has happened in the past where he's had a long layoff, and he always tends to come back and be extremely strong," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis told MLB.com about Ryu's return tonight.
Lackey has a wealth of playoff experience and a 6-5 record through 19 October games with a 3.03 ERA. Lackey won the Game 6 clincher for the Boston Red Sox in the World Series against the Cardinals last season and was traded to St. Louis at the deadline this summer.
"I'm at the point of my career where being in the postseason and having the opportunity to win championships is definitely the most important thing," Lackey said per MLB.com. "I take pride in trying to pitch well at this time of year, and I've been fortunate to be on some good teams that had that opportunity."
These teams have plenty of history together and there could be fireworks after the events of Game 1, which saw the benches clear after Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez began jawing at each other following Yasiel Puig getting beaned from a pitch by Adam Wainwright.
The tempers of both teams -- who played each other in a six-game NLCS last year that was won by the Cardinals -- were held in check in Game 2, but there was still plenty of drama as Los Angeles outfielder Matt Kemp hit what proved to be a game-winning solo homer in the eighth inning to nod the series.
Kemp is 5-for-9 (.556) with the one homer and two RBI thus far in the series.
Both teams have plenty of solid October hitters as Gonzalez is .317 (19-for-60) with two doubles, four homers and 10 RBI in 16 postseason games in his career while Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter is 4-for-8 (.500) in the series with two homers, two doubles and six RBI.
It's a pivotal Game 3 as one of these two teams will be driven to the brink of elimination when all is said and done after the Dodgers and Cardinals take the field for NLDS action live tonight from St. Louis.
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