The National League Championship Series, or the NLCS for short, is the final stop for MLB teams before the World Series. The NLCS is between the top two teams in the National League and the winner is sent on to the World Series to battle the winner of the American League.
The series is already set. Both teams have punched their tickets to the NLCS in quick series' against perennial powerhouses.
In the NLCS, the Arizona Diamondbacks will take on the Philadelphia Phillies after each of these teams won in four games or less in the NLDS.
The NLCS is a bit different than the NLCS though, mainly in terms of potential length in the series. Let's look a bit deeper into that.
NLCS format: How many games are in the NLCS?
Up to this point, teams have played a maximum of four games in a playoff series. The Phillies went to four games with the Braves and the Astros went to four games with the Twins. But in the NLCS, the Phillies and Diamondbacks will play at least four games.
The NLCS is a best-of-seven series, meaning the winning team will be the one that reaches four wins first. This could come four to zero, four to one, four to two or four to three.
In the Wild Card round, teams played a best-of-three series. When they moved to the Divisional Series, they moved on to best-of-five series with the longest series lasting four games.
With a minimum of four games in the NLCS, it's truly going to test the teams' pitching ability and pitching depth. It will also require the managers to be much more strategic than they have in the past.
The Phillies, being the higher seed, will host games 1, 2, 6, and 7. The Diamondbacks will play host in games 3, 4 and 5.
