| 2011 National League Championship Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 9–16 | |||||||||
| MVP | David Freese (St. Louis) | |||||||||
| Umpires | Gary Darling (crew chief), Tim Timmons, Sam Holbrook, Mike Everitt, Bill Miller, Mike Winters | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | TBS MLB International | |||||||||
| TV announcers | Brian Anderson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz (TBS) Gary Thorne and Rick Sutcliffe (MLB International) | |||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | |||||||||
| Radio announcers | Jon Sciambi (Games 1–3, 6) Dave O'Brien (Games 4–5) Bobby Valentine (Games 1–4, 6) Buck Martinez (Game 5) | |||||||||
| Streaming | ||||||||||
| NLDS |
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The 2011 National League Championship Series (abbreviated NLCS) was a best-of-seven playoff pitting the winners of the 2011 National League Division Series, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, against each other for the National League championship and the right to be the league's representative in the 2011 World Series. The series was the 42nd NLCS in league history.
The series began on October 9[1] to accommodate the World Series, which was scheduled to begin on October 19.[2] TBS televised all games in the United States with Game 1 starting at 4:05pm EDT.[3] Games 1, 2 and 6 were played at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while the other games were played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. By coincidence, Brian Anderson, who usually called Brewers games on Fox Sports Wisconsin during the regular season, did the play-by-play for the NLCS on TBS, along with Ron Darling and John Smoltz. Anderson filled in for regular TBS lead baseball announcer Ernie Johnson, who was tending to a son in the hospital.[4]
This was the Brewers' first-ever appearance in the NLCS, having moved to the National League in 1998. As an American League team, the Brewers made the ALCS in their pennant season of 1982, defeating the California Angels, 3–2. Thus, the Brewers became the first franchise to play in the LCS as a member of each league. The Cardinals, meanwhile, appeared in the NLCS for the first time since winning the 2006 World Series. This was a rematch of the 1982 World Series (a.k.a. the "Suds Series", with both cities associated with the brewing industry with Milwaukee's Miller Brewing Company, Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, and Pabst Brewing Company and St. Louis, whose Anheuser-Busch company is namesake of the Cardinals' ballpark), which the Cardinals won, 4–3.
The Cardinals would go on to defeat the Texas Rangers in seven games in the World Series.
This was the last League Championship Series in either league to be played between divisional opponents until 2023. This is mainly due to the restriction between two divisional opponents meeting in the Division Series being removed following this season.
- ^ Newman, Mark (August 10, 2011). "MLB announces 2011 postseason schedule". MLB.com. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ Duncan, Travis (July 27, 2011). "MLB to move up 2011 World Series". Digital Sports Daily. Archived from the original on July 31, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ Cox, Chris (October 7, 2011). "Times set for ALCS on FOX, NLCS on TBS". MLB.com. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ Hiestand, Michael (September 27, 2011). "Family situation keeps TBS' Ernie Johnson from MLB playoffs". USA Today.