1998 National League Division Series
| 1998 National League Division Series | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Dates | September 30 – October 3 | ||||||||||||
| Television |
ESPN (Game 1) Fox (Game 2) NBC (Game 3) |
||||||||||||
| TV announcers |
Jon Miller and Joe Carter (Game 1) Thom Brennaman and Bob Brenly (Game 2) Bob Costas and Joe Morgan (Game 3) |
||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Gary Cohen and Dave Campbell | ||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Dates | September 29 – October 4 | ||||||||||||
| Television |
ESPN (Games 1–3) Fox (Game 4) |
||||||||||||
| TV announcers |
Jon Miller and Joe Morgan (Games 1–2) Jon Miller and Ray Knight (Game 3) Thom Brennaman and Bob Brenly (Game 4) |
||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Charley Steiner and Rick Sutcliffe | ||||||||||||
| Umpires |
Mike Winters, Bill Hohn, Jerry Layne, Randy Marsh, Frank Pulli, Wally Bell (Braves–Cubs, Games 1–2; Astros–Padres, Games 3–4) Ed Rapuano, Jeff Kellogg, Gary Darling, Bob Davidson, Bruce Froemming, Angel Hernandez (Astros–Padres, Games 1–2; Braves–Cubs, Game 3) |
||||||||||||
| Team (Wins) | Manager | Season | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Braves (3) | Bobby Cox | 106–56, .654, GA: 18 | |
| Chicago Cubs (0) | Jim Riggleman | 90–73, .552, GB: 12½ |
| Team (Wins) | Manager | Season | |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Padres (3) | Bruce Bochy | 98–64, .605, GA: 9½ | |
| Houston Astros (1) | Larry Dierker | 102–60, .630, GA: 12½ |
The 1998 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the 1998 National League playoffs, began on Tuesday, September 29, and ended on Sunday, October 4, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were:
The higher seed (in parentheses) had the home field advantage, which for the first time was determined by playing record. Also for the first time, the team with home field advantage played the first two games at home, with potentially Game 5 at home as well; previously, the team with the home field "advantage" had played the first two games on the road, with the possibility of the final three games at home. The Cubs had won the wild card spot through a one-game playoff with the San Francisco Giants, winning 5–3 on September 28.
The Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres went on to meet in the NL Championship Series (NLCS). The Padres defeated the Braves four games to two to become the National League champion, and lost to the American League champion New York Yankees in the 1998 World Series.
Atlanta won the series, 3–0.
San Diego won the series, 3–1.
Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia
The Braves faced the Chicago Cubs, who made it into the playoffs by beating the San Francisco Giants in a tiebreaker for the Wild Card spot. The Braves had sixteen more regular season wins and it showed in Game 1. John Smoltz pitched masterfully and Michael Tucker started the scoring with a two-run homer off Chicago starter Mark Clark. Then an Andruw Jones sacrifice fly made it 3–0. In the bottom of the seventh, Ryan Klesko put the game away with a grand slam into right field. The Cubs would score in the eighth off Smoltz, but John Rocker and Kerry Ligtenberg slammed the door on Game 1.
...
Wikipedia