The National League Championship Series was becoming old hat for the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers. They had already played in 1977 and 1978. The Phillies had been here in 1976 and 1980, with the Dodgers also playing this round in 1981. The two best National League teams of their era hooked up again […]
The St. Louis Cardinals have become a regular in the National League Championship Series, advancing to this round nine times from 2000-14. The Atlanta Braves would also become an NLCS regular with nine trips of their own between 1991-2001. But at the 1982 NLCS these two future powers were relative newcomers to a playoff round […]
Two dramatic home runs punctuated the 1985 NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers. The broadcast call of one is remembered in a lot of baseball montages to this day—and that wasn’t even the home run that won the pennant. Another dramatic shot was the final big blow of a competitive six-game series.
The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs met in the 1989 NLCS with each in pursuit of a long-sought pennant. The Cubs’ chase of their first National League pennant since 1945 is the stuff of legend, but the Giants had been out of the Fall Classic for a while themselves. Their last appearance was 1962. It was San Francisco who ended their drought with a five-game victory in 1989
The two big markets of the National League battled in the 1988 NLCS, as the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The series had the best pitchers and best MVP candidates, and it went the full seven games, with several surprising plot twists, before the Dodgers finally prevailed
The Los Angeles Dodgers were old hands at this National League Championship Series business by 1981. The Dodgers had been to the NLCS in 1974, 1977 and 1978, winning pennants all three times, though never the World Series. The Montreal Expos were just the opposite—they were making their first visit to the postseason. The veteran Dodgers and the up-and-coming Expos crossed paths in a well-played 1981 NLCS.
When you hear “Phillies-Astros” as a playoff matchup, it doesn’t jump off the charts as a marquee possibility. But in the 1980 NLCS, these two teams staged a playoff battle that ranks at or near the top of the greatest postseason series ever played.
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds were old “friends” when it came to hooking up in the National League Championship Series. They met in 1970, 1972 and 1975, with the Reds winning all three times. The Pirates finally got their revenge in the fourth meeting in the 1979 NLCS
The 1978 NLCS was a rematch between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Just as they had the year before, the Dodgers won the pennant in four games (of what was then a best-of-five round), jumping on Philadelphia quickly and then winning good Game 4 to clinch.
The Reds were the Big Red Machine, the defending World Series champions, with three pennants and four NLCS appearances already under their belt from 1970-75. The Phillies were the up-and-comers, who had displaced the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL East. While the Phils would become postseason regulars in the ensuing eight years, they were a fresh face in 1976.