The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants are back at it again in the National LEague Championship Series for the fourth time since 1987. The winner goes to the World Series against the victor of the American League Championship Series, either the Baltimore Orioles or Kansas City Royals.

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The last time the Giants and Cardinals went at it in the NLCS in 2012, the Giants overcame a 3-1 game deficit in the best of seven series. The Cardinals had the opportunity to wrap it up on their home field, Busch Stadium, the same place where the 2014 series begins Saturday.

Of course, the Cards lost when Giants manager Bruce Bochy surprised everybody by starting Barry Zito in Game 5 of the series. While Zito once won a Cy Young Award with the cross-bay Oakland A's, his mojo had long expired by 2012.

Critics blasted the decision. Zito had other ideas and hurled 7 2/3 shutout innings yielding only six hits. The Giants won 5-0 and kept on winning all the way to World Series glory. The Giants have gone 11-1 in the Major League Baseball post-season since then

Even-numbered years seem to be the charm for the Giants lately. They won it all in 2010 and 2012. Now, it's 2014 and they're hoping the best is yet to come.

Game 1 from Busch Stadium is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Saturday. Fox will televise it. Game 2 starts at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.

The series returns to The City, as San Franciscans refer to home, at 4 p.m. ET, Tuesday at AT&T Park in China Basin. Game 4 is 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. After that, it's games as needed until one team wins four.

The Cardinals are on their own roll. This is their fourth consecutive NLCS appearance. The 2011 ream beat the Texas Rangers to win the 2011 Fall Classic. They missed the World Series in 2012, then came back last year only to lose to the Boston Red Sox.

All that;s left now is to play ball.

TagsSan Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, mlb, Baseball, world series, nlcs, alcs, National League Championship Series, American League Championship Series