| 2012 National League Division Series | |||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 7–12 | ||||||||||||
| Television | TBS MLB Network (Game 3) | ||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly (TBS) Bob Costas and Jim Kaat (MLBN) | ||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton | ||||||||||||
| Umpires | Joe West (crew chief), Paul Emmel, Ed Hickox, Marvin Hudson, Jim Joyce, Alfonso Marquez | ||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 6–11 | ||||||||||||
| Television | TBS TNT (Game 2) | ||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Brian Anderson, Ron Darling and Joe Simpson | ||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Gary Cohen (Games 1–2) Chris Berman (Games 3–5) and Rick Sutcliffe | ||||||||||||
| Umpires | Gerry Davis (crew chief), Phil Cuzzi, Chad Fairchild, Tom Hallion, Dan Iassogna, Brian O'Nora | ||||||||||||
| NLWC | St. Louis Cardinals defeated Atlanta Braves, 6–3 | ||||||||||||
The 2012 National League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2012 National League Championship Series. The three divisional winners and a fourth team—the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff—played in two separate series.
This series with the Washington Nationals was their first playoff berth since moving to Washington, D.C., and the first franchise playoff berth since 1981 when they were the Montreal Expos. TBS carried most of the games, with some on TNT. The Wild Card Game was held on October 5, 2012. The series used the 2–3 format (three consecutive games at home for the team with home field advantage preceded by two consecutive games at home for the other team) for 2012 because Major League Baseball implemented the second wild card slot on March 2, 2012, long after the 2012 regular season schedule had been set, leaving no room for the 2–2–1 format which requires a travel day between Games 4 and 5.[1] The 2–3 format was used for best-of-five Championship Series prior to 1985 and for the Division Series from 1995 to 1997. The matchups for the 2012 NLDS were:
- (1) Washington Nationals (East Division champions) vs. (5) St. Louis Cardinals (Wild Card Game winner): Cardinals win series 3–2.
- (2) Cincinnati Reds (Central Division champions) vs. (3) San Francisco Giants (West Division champions): Giants win series 3–2.
Both series saw the first postseason meetings between the respective clubs and both went to the maximum five games.
The Giants went on to defeat the Cardinals in the NLCS, then win the 2012 World Series defeating the American League champion Detroit Tigers. To date, this was the last National League Division Series to not feature the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- ^ Bloom, Barry M. (March 2, 2012). "Addition of Wild Card berths finalized for 2012". MLB.com.