A report on Chicago Cubs, 2015 National League Division Series, Cardinals–Cubs rivalry and St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals–Cubs rivalry, also called the Route 66 rivalry and The I-55 rivalry, refers to the rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL), one of the most bitter rivalries in Major League Baseball and in all of North American professional sports.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals had home field advantage in this round of the playoffs.

The teams' lone MLB playoff meeting occurred in the 2015 National League Division Series, which the Cubs won, 3–1.

In two of these championships, the Browns met the Chicago White Stockings, now the Chicago Cubs, launching the enduring Cardinals–Cubs rivalry.

This was the third overall postseason meeting between the Cubs and Cardinals, with the two having met in the 1885 and 1886 World Series, and their first since the Cardinals joined the National League in 1892.

The St. Louis Cardinals shut-out the rival Chicago Cubs 4–0 behind John Lackey's 7 1⁄3 shutout innings in the first meeting between the two in the playoffs.

Both seasons resulted in matchups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886.

This was the genesis of what would eventually become one of the greatest rivalries in sports.

The Cardinals and Cubs have played each other once in the postseason, 2015 National League Division Series, which the Cubs won 3–1.

The Cubs defeated the Cardinals in the NLDS three-games-to-one, qualifying for a return to the NLCS for the first time in 12 years, where they faced the New York Mets.