St. Louis Cardinals
vs.
San Francisco Giants
NLCS Game 7
AT&T Park
8:00 p.m. EST
The phrase "win or go home" has become all too familiar to both the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, the last two World Series champions.
After quickly falling into an 0-2 hole in the Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds, the Giants won three straight elimination games on the road just to reach the NLCS. With their backs against the wall once again after falling behind the Cardinals 3-1, the Giants have won two in a row to force a decisive Game 7.
As for the Cardinals, who won last year's World Series in seven games, they've walked the tightrope to reach this point as well. The Redbirds seemed doomed to also-ran status against the Washington Nationals in the other NLDS but pulled off a stunning turnaround to set up this matchup with the Giants. Trailing by two runs and down to their last strike (twice), the Cardinals rallied back to score four runs in the ninth and beat the Nats in D.C. in Game 5. It was the biggest comeback ever in a winner-take-all postseason game, according to STATS LLC.
With the National League pennant on the line, the Cardinals will send out arguably their most consistent pitcher to the mound at AT&T Park, Kyle Loshe. The righty posted a 16-3 record in the regular season and shut down the Giants in Game 3, only allowing one earned run through 5.2 innings. The Giants will counter with ace Matt Cain, who has struggled somewhat during the postseason with a 1-2 record and 4.67 ERA.
Will San Francisco defy the odds again to clinch the pennant? Or will the Cardinals continue their magical run and return to the World Series?
SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT GAME 7
To bring some local flavor to our Game 7 live blog, HuffPost Sports has invited our Infographic Design Editor Chris Spurlock, who was born and raised about 30 miles west of St. Louis, to chime in on behalf of Cardinals fans and Chris Anderson, a Senior Editor at HuffPost, to represent Giants fans.