In a matter of hours, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants will meet in an elimination game.
The two clubs have put on a show in the NLDS so far, and Game 5 is sure to have some fireworks.
Right now, it’s anyone’s guess as to which team is going to advance.
In fact, many sportsbooks have this game listed as a 50/50 proposition.
For neutral MLB fans, this is fantastic stuff.
But for Dodgers and Giants fans, it’s going to be a stressful evening.
How Important Will Home-Field Advantage Be For The Giants In Game 5?
The Giants fought hard to win the NL West, and as a result, they have home-field advantage in Game 5 of this series.
How important is that?
Well, let’s find out.
In the regular season, San Francisco had the second-best home record in all of baseball.
That probably seems like an encouraging sign for the Giants, but it gets somewhat negated by the fact that the Dodgers were the second-best road team in all of baseball in the regular season.
L.A. doesn’t seem to care where it plays.
Still, any team would rather have its home crowd on its side in a do-or-die playoff game.
Giants fans have shown up in a huge way at Oracle Park throughout this series, and it’s surely going to be an electric atmosphere tonight.
The Pitching Matchup
We have a somewhat unique pitching matchup on our hands in Game 5.
The Giants are giving the ball to rising star Logan Webb, but the Dodgers are going in a unique direction with their approach.
L.A. is going to let relief pitcher Corey Knebel open the game, then he’ll presumably pass the torch to Julio Urias after an inning or two.
It’s hard to decide which team has the edge in the pitching matchup.
Webb looked terrific in his first-ever playoff start earlier in this series, pitching 7.2 innings of shutout ball.
But on the L.A. side of things, as long as Knebel gets the game to Urias without any trouble, then the Dodgers will probably feel good about their chances.
Knebel (2.45 ERA) has been a reliable arm for L.A. all year long, and so has Urias.
Urias will likely get the bulk of the work for the Dodgers.
In his first start of the postseason, he tossed five innings of one-run ball.
Final Thoughts And Prediction For Game 5
Throughout the entire regular season, folks were just waiting for the Giants to squander their lead in the NL West.
The Dodgers were described as too talented to not overtake San Francisco in the division.
And at certain points, things did get dicey.
But against all odds, the Giants found a way to fend off L.A.
It took 107 wins to get the job done, but San Francisco never backed down from the challenge.
That says a lot about who the Giants are as a team, and it doesn’t seem like they’re done fighting yet.
Prediction: San Fransisco 4, Los Angeles 3.
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