The 2014 National League Championship Series was a best-of-seven playoff pitting the St. Louis Cardinals against the San Francisco Giants for the National League pennant and the right to play in the 2014 World Series. The series was the 45th NLCS in league history with Fox airing Game 1 and Fox Sports 1 airing Games 2–5 in the United States. Game 1 was simulcast on Fox Sports 1 and was hosted by Kevin Burkhardt, Gabe Kapler and C.J. Nitkowski, who offered sabermetric analysis of the game. To reach the 2014 NLCS, the Cardinals (Central Division champions, 90–72) defeated the Dodgers (West Division champions, 94–68) in the NLDS, 3 games to 1. The Giants (Wild Card, 88–74) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game and then defeated the Nationals (East Division champions, 96–66) in the NLDS, 3 games to 1. This was the fourth time the two teams have met in the postseason (1987 NLCS, 2002 NLCS, and 2012 NLCS). The Cardinals, by virtue of being a division winner, had the home field advantage. The Giants clinched their third pennant within a five-year span, with NLCS wins in 2010 and 2012. The Giants would go on to defeat the Kansas City Royals in the World Series in seven games, winning their third World Series championship in five years. Matchup St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants Game summaries Game 1 Madison Bumgarner and the Giants bullpen pitched a shutout and limited the Cardinals to only 4 hits. The Giants scored first in the top of the second off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright. With the bases loaded, Travis Ishikawa hit a bloop single to left to drive in the first run of the game. The Giants took a 2–0 lead when Gregor Blanco reached safely on a Matt Carpenter error. The Giants tacked on a third run in the top of the third on a Brandon Belt sacrifice fly. The Cardinals threatened to score in the bottom of the seventh, with runners at second and third with two outs. Bumgarner appeared to balk when he stepped off the mound while facing Tony Cruz, but no balk was called by the umpires. Bumgarner recovered to strike out Cruz and got two more outs in the eighth before giving way to Sergio Romo who retired Matt Holliday to end the eighth. Santiago Casilla pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close out a