National League Championship Series Set

Colorado, one of the hottest teams right now in baseball, and Arizona, a team that had 86 losses last season, are set to face off starting Thursday for the National League Championship Title and a trip to the World Series.

Colorado finished the season by winning 14 of their last 15 games before sweeping Philadelphia in the National League Division Series as the National League Wildcard. This came after Colorado won a one-game playoff against San Diego on a controversial home plate call on whether Matt Holliday touched home plate on his game winning slide in extra innings or not. It has not been long since these two teams faced off. The last time they played were the last three games of the regular season in Colorado, with the Rockies taking two of the three games, outscoring Arizona 17-8.

Arizona has home-field advantage in this series after only having a record that beat out Colorado by a half game. Both teams should be well-rested coming into this series, as they both made easy work of their first round opponents to quickly advance to the NLCS.

Game 1 in Arizona at Chase Field will feature Jeff Francis on the mound for Colorado and Brandon Webb taking the mound for the Diamondbacks. Webb was 1-3 this season against the Rockies, posting an ERA of 5.77. Francis made three appearances against the Diamondbacks, going 1-1 and a low ERA of 2.84.

Arizona appears to have a slight edge on Colorado in the starting rotation, with three starters that played consistently throughout the season and lasted longer in their outings compared to the Rockies "Big Three". While Arizona has a solid closer in Jose Valverde, who recorded 47 saves in 65 appearances with a 2.66 ERA in the regular season, Colorado has a closer, Manny Corpas, that while he has few saves, has a winning record and an ERA of 2.08 and appears to be a reliable closer. If Colorado can make it to the end of the game, expect to see Corpas come in to protect the lead and save the game.