The Padres and Dodgers square off in Los Angeles in the winner take all game for the top seed in the National League Championship Series against the Mets. It’s an all Japanese duel as Yu Darvish takes on Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Darvish came into his own in the post-season with the Padres. In five starts with his current team he allowed a 2.53 ERA, leading to a 3-1 record. He did allow seven home runs in 32 innings, but that was almost the only way to score against him as eight of the nine runs he allowed were driven in by homers.

Yamamoto got knocked around in his first start against the Padres, allowing five runs in three innings. He struck out just one batter. In the regular season, he struck out 105 batters in 90 innings. If the Padres can put the ball in play against him today, he might not last long again.

Note that so far, the team with the longer World Championship drought won the decided division series. Can the Padres keep pace?