The Pittsburgh Pirates are riding cloud nine after defeating the Reds and winning their first MLB postseason game in ages on Tuesday, at home no less. Now they have a formidable foe in the top seeded St. Louis Cardinals and must defeat their NL Central divisional rival and top seed in the best-of-five series to advance. Watch MLB Baseball NL Divisional Playoff Game 1 free live online streaming on TBS instructions are linked below.
The Pirates will be sending A.J. Burnett to the mound as their starting pitcher in Game 1. Burnett brings playoffs experience to the franchise having played on a Yankees squad that was no stranger to playing baseball in the month of October. In his career against the Cardinals, Burnett is 3-1 with a 3.67 ERA. His last start against them was awful, and playing at Busch Stadium Burnett has given up nearly a run per inning with the 13 1/3 total innings he has pitched there.
In 2013, the Pirates edged the Cardinals by 10 games to 9. The key number is the Cardinals swept the Pirates in a four game series in early October that allowed them to take over the division lead and keep up for the remainder of the season. The Cardinals also have seven players still on their roster from the 2011 World Series team, while the majority of Pirates players have never been in the postseason before, much less the World Series.
The Cardinals starting pitcher in Game 1, and Game 5 if necessary, will be Adam Wainwright. The ace of a strong staff put up a 19-9 record during the regular season and finished the year on a tear with four wins in his final five starts. Against the Pirates, Wainwright was dominant this season with a 1-0 record and 3.00 ERA in three starts. Pittsburgh has yet to beat him, and will need to do so tonight in order to avoid falling behind 1-0 and potentially 2-0 if they can’t win Game 2 as millions will watch MLB Baseball NL Divisional Playoff Game 1 free live online streaming on TBS.
All of MLB baseball is aware of the Cardinals’ amazing .330 batting average with runners in scoring position this past season, the best in the league dating all the way back to 1974. They have become the best hitting team in the league since their slugger Albert Pujols left with a lineup that can hit homers and cause pain from positions one through eight. Matt Carpenter in particular has been a huge boost at second base with his breakout offensive season.
Pittsburgh may have won one elimination game, but they face a huge mountain tonight in having to take on Wainwright and the well-rested Cardinals at home. The best way for the Pirates to beat the odds and steal a Game 1 win is to jump on Wainwright early and hope he’s a little rusty after an extended break from pitching. Otherwise, I can’t see the Pirates pulling this one out against the Cardinals ace on the road.
Game 1 of the 2013 MLB NL Divisional Playoffs Series between the number 4 seed Pittsburgh Pirates and number 1 seed St. Louis Cardinals will get underway at a start time of 5:07 pm PST / 2:07 pm PST on TV on TBS in high definition (HD). Cable or satellite subscribers with TBS in their package have the choice to watch free live online streaming of tonight’s Divisional Playoff Game 1 here on TBS by logging in with the information set up with their service provider.
