Breaking down the National League Championship Series

Oct 6, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Defense

The Cardinals will bring one of the best defenses in the baseball into this series. According to Fangraphs, the Cardinals were 30.5 runs better than the league average throughout the season, while the Giants were 1.4 runs below league average.

The spot where the Cardinals were the weakest this season was in left field but Matt Holliday will likely be the best left fielder in this series. In the NLDS the Giants used Travis Ishikawa, a natural first baseman, in left field.

Mike Morse might be able to play in this series but even he isn’t an improvement in left. Morse was a negative 10.8 in Fangraph UZR in 579 innings in the outfield. If expanded over a full season, Morse would have been 25 runs below the league average.

The Cardinals also have defensive replacements they can bring in in the late innings. Peter Bourjos and Pete Kozma are available off the bench to bring range to the defense up the middle.

I think the Cardinals have a big defensive advantage in this sereis.