Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants continue their best-of-seven National League Championship Series with Game 5 action live from AT&T Park in San Francisco. The game can be live streamed for free here. St. Louis fans can hear all of the action on KMOX 1120 while San Francisco fans can do the same on KNBR 680.
San Francisco is one win away from its third trip to the World Series in five years after taking a commanding 3-1 series lead Wednesday night while St. Louis will look to stave off elimination and force the series to return back home.
The Giants came from behind to win Game 4 by a 6-4 score and catcher Buster Posey was a huge part of it, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored to give him a team-best .333 average this postseason.
San Francisco won Game 1 in shutout fashion with a 3-0 victory while St. Louis battled back with its only win in Game 2 by a 5-4 margin in walk-off fashion before San Francisco notched a 5-4 walk-off win of its own in Game 3 and picked up the pivotal Game 4 triumph.
The Cardinals are hoping to avoid elimination here in their fourth straight NLCS and to get back to the World Series for the second straight year, but they'll have to win three straight games to do so.
The Giants send their best pitcher, Madison Bumgarner, to the mound looking to go to their third Fall Classic in five years after winning it all in 2010 and again in 2012.
Bumgarner went 18-10 this season with a 2.98 ERA and is 2-1 this postseason with a dazzling 0.76 ERA. Bumgarner held the Cardinals scoreless on four hits in 7.2 innings in Game 1 and is 5-3 in 10 games (nine starts) with a 2.58 ERA in his playoff career.
Bumgarner will have his work cut out for him against a St. Louis team that has belted an MLB-best 13 homers this postseason.
Rookie second baseman Kolten Wong blasted his second homer of the series and third of the playoffs in Game 4 while third baseman Matt Carpenter is tied for the MLB lead with four homers -- one in this series -- in the playoffs and leads the NL with eight RBI.
"You're playing for your season," Carpenter told MLB.com about the team's mentality heading into a do-or-die Game 5. "We have our ace going, and we'll be ready."
San Francisco has just two homers this postseason off of the bats of first baseman Brandon Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford, but it has played enough small ball to be in the driver's seat.
Belt leads the team with six RBI while Posey has a team-best 13 hits and third baseman Pablo Sandoval has paced the Giants with six runs.
The Cardinals respond to the Giants with an ace of their own in Adam Wainwright, who was out-dueled by Bumgarner in Game 1 and has been shaky this postseason.
Wainwright went 20-9 in the regular season with a 2.38 ERA and gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits in 4.2 innings pitched in the opening contest of the NLCS.
Wainwright is 0-1 this postseason with an 8.00 ERA and is 4-4 in 20 games (11 starts) in the playoffs in his career with a 3.17 ERA.
While Wainwright has been struggling, the Giants know Thursday is no easy task.
"We're definitely not taking anything for granted," Posey said per MLB.com. "We know we're going to have a tough game on our hands."
The Giants look to punch their ticket to the World Series for the third time in five years while the Cardinals look to thwart off elimination when the teams take the field for NLCS Game 5 action live from Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
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