3 Things to get excited about for Braves-Cardinals Game 5

By Sean Sears | Oct 9, 2019

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - OCTOBER 07: Yadier Molina #4 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates as he hits a walk-off sacrifice fly to give his team the 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves in game four of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium on October 07, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images) /

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Game 5 of any divisional series is always must-watch baseball, but with two teams as evenly matched as the Braves and Cardinals there are plenty of reasons to watch Wednesday night’s elimination game.

Through four games of the NLDS, neither the Cardinals or Braves have shown one team is superior to the other. Both teams have jumped out to early leads in games and both teams have found ways to squander chances to stomp the other’s throat, all leading up to an elimination game that should have both managers ready to do anything for a win.

The Cardinals have proven to be one of the hardest teams to put away, with their starting pitching doing an excellent job at limiting damage in scoring opportunities and an offense that doesn’t give away at-bats, they’ve managed to stay in most games this season.

But on the other side is a team, that on paper, has more talent with a roster filled with young-budding offensive players. Sprinkling in a few veterans like OF Nick Markakis and C Brian McCann, and Atlanta looked like the favorites in this series. However, St. Louis has been able to hang around in each game and thanks to some big hits from Yadier Molina have forced a Game 5.

So here are three things to watch for in the conclusive Game 5 of this NLDS.

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