Cubs vs. Giants: A position-by-position NLDS look

With all due respect to the other three Division Series, only one of them features the team that’s won three titles in the past six seasons (and looking to make that four of seven) against one of the best regular-season teams we’ve ever seen. The Giants have won 11 consecutive postseason series, dating back to the 2003 National League DS, while the Cubs went 103-58 and outscored their opponents by an absurd 252 runs.

So you have the team that’s been there, with 12 current Giants (plus manager Bruce Bochy) having been present for all three World Series championships, and the team that’s trying to end the most famous drought in sports history. The stories practically write themselves, and we’ll get to watch them all unfold when the series begins with Game 1 on Friday at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

Game Date Time Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 7 9 p.m SF @ CHC FS1 Gm 2 Oct. 8 8 p.m. SF @ CHC MLBN Gm 3 Oct. 10 TBD CHC @ SF FS1 / MLBN *Gm 4 Oct. 11 TBD CHC @ SF FS1 *Gm 5 Oct. 13 TBD SF @ CHC FS1 *- If necessary | All times listed ETShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Giants • Complete Postseason coverage

Let’s go position-by-position to see how these two clubs stack up.

Catcher A big part of Chicago’s success this year was its ability to replace things that weren’t working with internal options that were even better. The Cubs lost part-time catcher Kyle Schwarber early, then didn’t get acceptable production from Miguel Montero (.216/.327/.357, 83 wRC+, where 100 is league average) so they promoted Willson Contreras in June — and all he did was out-hit (.282/.357/.488, 126 wRC+) every other NL catcher who received 200 plate appearances. That said, a half-season of good production isn’t enough to give Contreras the edge over baseball’s best catcher, Buster Posey, who is an underrated pitch framer (+25 runs, second in baseball) to go with his above-average bat.Advantage: Giants

First Base All Anthony Rizzo has done for the past three years is hit like Miguel Cabrera and Paul Goldschmidt; he’s a legitimate superstar who keeps putting up the same consistently great season of 32 homers and 5 Wins Above Replacement. It’s a credit to the underrated Brandon Belt that he makes this close, because his line this year (.275/.394/.474, 138 wRC+) wasn’t that far off from Rizzo’s .292/.385/.544 (145 wRC+), once adjusted for the difficulty of hitting in San Francisco, but this is still Rizzo’s clear edge.Advantage: Cubs

Second BaseBen Zobrist has been a star for years, being an average or above-average hitter every season since 2008, and he put up yet another good season this year, hitting .272/.386/.446 (124 wRC+). Joe Panik’s season (.239/.315/.379, 90 wRC+) can’t compare to that, especially when you realize that the Cubs …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com