Before switching on the TV this evening to catch the Kansas City–Baltimore American League Championship Series and tomorrow night for the National League Championship Series featuring San Francisco and St. Louis, you may wish to check out a couple of previews, courtesy of Grantland:

Ben Lindbergh has the scoop on the ALCS. For example, the Orioles don’t have a particularly strong starting rotation but look capable of neutralizing the Royals’ biggest offensive threat: speed:

Game 1 starter [Chris] Tillman, who came up through Baltimore’s system after arriving in the Erik Bedard trade, is the best example. Among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitched over the past two seasons, only Nathan Eovaldi has allowed as few steals as Tillman — and Tillman topped Eovaldi’s innings total by more than 100. Baserunners have tested Tillman, but they’ve almost always regretted it, going 2-for-13 in their attempts. However, Bud Norris, whom the O’s didn’t get to groom from his baseball infancy, has been one of the most frequent stolen-base victims, allowing 31 swipes in 45 attempts from 2013 to 2014. Overall, the Orioles have allowed the 10th-fewest attempts and eighth-fewest steals this season, and they limited their opponents to -7.7 Baserunning Runs, the AL’s second-lowest total.

Meanwhile, Jonah Keri believes that two of the youngest players in the Cardinals lineup may be key to offensive success against the Giants’ pitchers:

Twenty-three-year-old rookie second baseman Kolten Wong batted a lousy .228/.282/.304 before hitting the disabled list with a shoulder injury in late June. Since his return, he’s struggled to get on base, but has cranked up the power, belting 11 homers in his final 60 starts of the season, and launching the game-winning blast in Game 3 of the NLDS. Meanwhile, 26-year-old Matt Adams hit .325 but with just three long balls in 52 games before hitting the DL with a calf injury at the end of May. After his June 13 return, Big City batted .267 but with 12 homers and 18 doubles in 333 at-bats, and he boasts the signature moment of the playoffs so far: a series-clinching three-run bomb off Clayton Kershaw. Normally we try not to make too much of selective endpoints like these. But in Wong you’ve got a rookie who might now just be coming into his own as he’s gained experience and recovered from a bum shoulder; Adams’s minor league and early major league résumés (and colossal size) suggest he’s more of a power threat than he showed for a good chunk of this season.

For whatever they’re worth, Lindbergh picks Baltimore to triumph in six games, while Keri has San Francisco prevailing, also in six.

More here and here.