A look at the best-of-five National League division series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs:

Schedule (All Hawaii times)

Game 1, Wednesday, at Chicago (12:37 p.m.)

Game 2, Thursday, at Chicago (3:37 p.m.)

Game 3, Saturday, at Los Angeles (4:07 p.m.)

x-Game 4, Sunday, at Los Angeles (TBA)

x-Game 5, Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Chicago (TBA). (All games on TBS).

x-if necessary.

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Season Series: Chicago won 5-2.

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Projected Lineups

Dodgers:

CF Matt Kemp (.290, 18 HRs, 76 RBIs, 35 SB)

C Russell Martin (.280, 13, 69, 18 SB)

LF Manny Ramirez (.396, 17, 53 in 53 games with Dodgers after July 31 trade from Boston; .332, 37, 121 overall)

RF Andre Ethier (.305, 20, 77)

1B James Loney (.289, 13, 90)

3B Casey Blake (.251, 10, 23 in 59 games with Dodgers after July 26 trade from Cleveland; .274, 21, 81 overall)

2B Blake DeWitt (.264, 9, 52)

SS Angel Berroa (.230, 1, 16)

Note: SS Rafael Furcal, out most of the season because of back problems, could start. He'd hit leadoff in a rearranged batting order.

Cubs:

LF Alfonso Soriano (.280, 29, 79, 19 SB)

SS Ryan Theriot (.307, 1, 38, 22 SB)

1B Derrek Lee (.291, 20, 90)

3B Aramis Ramirez (.289, 27, 111)

CF Jim Edmonds (.256, 19. 49 with Cubs after cut by San Diego on May 9; .235, 20, 55 overall)

C Geovany Soto (.285, 23, 86)

2B Mark DeRosa (.285, 21, 87)

RF Kosuke Fukudome (.257, 10, 58, 12 SB)

Projected Rotations

Dodgers:

RH Derek Lowe (14-11, 3.24 ERA)

RH Chad Billingsley (16-10, 3.14, 201 strikeouts)

RH Hiroki Kuroda (9-10, 3.73)

RH Greg Maddux (2-4, 5.09 in 7 starts with Dodgers after trade from San Diego; 8-13, 4.22 overall).

Cubs:

RH Ryan Dempster (17-6, 2.96)

RH Carlos Zambrano (14-6, 3.91)

RH Rich Harden (5-1, 1.77, 89 strikeouts in 12 starts with Cubs after July 8 trade from Oakland; 10-2, 2.07 in 25 starts overall)

LH Ted Lilly (17-9, 4.09)

Relievers

Dodgers:

RH Jonathan Broxton (3-5, 3.13, 14/16 saves)

RH Takashi Saito (4-4, 2.49, 18/21 saves

LH Joe Beimel (5-1, 2.02)

RH Cory Wade (2-1, 2.27

RH Chan Ho Park (4-4, 3.40)

LH Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 4.26 in 22 games, 21 starts)

Cubs:

RH Kerry Wood (5-4, 3.26, 34/40 saves)

RH Carlos Marmol (2-4, 2.68, 114 strikeouts in 87 1-3 IP, 82 games)

RH Bob Howry (7-5, 5.35)

LH Neal Cotts (0-2, 4.29

LH Sean Marshall (3-5, 3.86 in 34 games, 7 starts

RH Jason Marquis (11-9, 4.53 in 29 games, 28 starts)

RH Jeff Samardzija (1-0, 2.28)

Matchups

All seven meetings between the teams came before Ramirez and Blake joined the Dodgers, who have won just one playoff game in their past four appearances since winning the World Series 20 years ago. But under the guidance of first-year manager Joe Torre, they're in the postseason for the third time since Frank McCourt bought the team from News Corp. before the 2004 season. ... The Dodgers feature three ex-Cubs: Maddux, Nomar Garciaparra and Juan Pierre. ... The Cubs swept a three-game series from Los Angeles at Wrigley Field in May by scores of 3-1, 3-1 and 2-1 in 10 innings. The teams split a four-game set at Dodger Stadium in June. ... Jeff Kent was 8-for-19 against the Cubs with two homers. Martin was 8-for-21. Garciaparra didn't play against Chicago. ... Dempster was 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA against the Dodgers this season. He went 14-3 at home. ... Zambrano was 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA against Los Angeles. Harden has never faced the Dodgers. Lilly didn't pitch against Los Angeles this season, but is 2-0 in his career. ... Soriano was 8-for-29 against the Dodgers this season with one homer and 10 strikeouts. ... Cubs manager Lou Piniella isn't afraid to use his bench or even start his backups. Two of his favorites are infielder Mike Fontenot and outfielder Reed Johnson, both good contact hitters. Piniella also likes young "live" arms in the bullpen, where Marmol has developed into one of baseball's best setup men. Samardzija, a football star at Notre Dame, made the playoff roster because of the zip on his fastball and his ability to handle loud crowds and pressure situations.

Big Picture

Dodgers: Torre will manage in the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season, including all 12 with the New York Yankees before splitting from the team last fall. ... The Dodgers (84-78) qualified for the postseason despite having a losing record as recently as Sept. 3. They trailed Arizona by 4› games following a 9-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Aug. 29. Then, with Ramirez leading the way and Berroa and DeWitt doing a solid job up the middle as replacements, Los Angeles rebounded from an eight-game losing streak to go 18-5, move past the Diamondbacks and clinch its first division title in four years. ... The addition of Ramirez made a huge difference. Blake, acquired five days earlier, and Berroa, picked up in June from Kansas City, were significant moves as well. ... SS Rafael Furcal, who got off to a great start before going on the disabled list May 6 and missing 125 games, and 2B Kent, who underwent knee surgery Sept. 2, returned to action last week and figure to be on the playoff roster. Torre has to make a difficult decision in deciding how to use them, and also must decide whether Broxton or Saito will close. Saito missed two months with a strained ligament in his right elbow before returning two weeks ago. Broxton had 14 saves in 16 chances during his absence. ... The Dodgers reached October despite the flop of free agent CF Andruw Jones, who hit just .158 with three homers and 14 RBIs in the first season of a two-year, $36.2 million contract. They're also without opening-day starter Brad Penny, limited by a right shoulder injury to 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA in 19 outings.

Cubs: In first place since May 11, Chicago (97-64) won its second consecutive NL Central title and finished with the second-best record in baseball behind the Los Angeles Angels. The Cubs pulled away from Milwaukee by sweeping four games at Miller Park in late July. Now, they go for their first pennant since 1945 and first World Series championship in 100 years. ... The Cubs were swept in the first round of last year's playoffs by Arizona. ... Fukudome, who started for the NL All-Star team in center field, has lost a lot of playing time because of a second-half slump. Piniella likes Fukudome's fielding but has grown impatient with his troubles at the plate and has often used DeRosa in right and moved Fontenot to second. ... DeRosa (strained calf) and Soto (sore hand) were slowed by injuries during the final week of the season, meaningless games for the Cubs after they clinched the division crown on the next-to-last Saturday. ... Wood, who has been with the Cubs longer than any current player, is in the playoffs for the fourth time — second as a reliever and first as a closer. He was a starter in 1998 and 2003. Five years ago he was the loser in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Marlins, a game in which he homered. ... Dempster knows what Wood has experienced this season because he was the closer a year ago and had 28 saves in 31 chances. ... Soriano twice went on the disabled list this season but as the leadoff hitter still topped the highest-scoring team in the NL with 29 homers. Chicago had five other players reach the 20-homer mark. ... Zambrano batted .337 and hit four homers, giving him 16 for his career. He is a switch-hitter. ... The Cubs were 55-26 at Wrigley Field and 42-38 on the road.

Watch For

— Manny Being Awesome. How will Chicago handle the sizzling Ramirez? The 12-time All-Star and 2004 World Series MVP went 8-for-13 with five RBIs in his first three games with the Dodgers, and that was just the beginning. He became a team leader almost immediately, adding life to a previously drab clubhouse, and he's hustled all the way.

— Maturity from Big Z. After Zambrano pitched a no-hitter against Houston, he was hit hard in his final two starts. His emotional makeup is sometimes an issue. Glaring at umpires and tossing water coolers has been part of his act when things don't go his way. When Piniella went to take him out after his poor performance against St. Louis in the outing after the no-hitter, Zambrano started to leave the mound before the manager arrived. Piniella made him go back and hand him the ball.

— Young Gun or Old Hand? When laying out his playoff rotation, Torre would only go through the first three games, with Lowe, Billingsley and Kuroda getting starts. The 42-year-old Maddux, eighth on the career wins list with 355, pitched six shutout innings in his last outing but gave up seven runs in five innings in the one before that. The 20-year-old Kershaw won his last three decisions, but Torre said he'll use him out of the bullpen. That makes sense because LHP Hong-Chih Kuo, 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 80 innings, won't be available for at least the first round because of a possible circulation problem.

— Cubs In The Clutch. Against the Diamondbacks in the opening round last year, two of Chicago's best run producers went flat. Ramirez finished the series 0-for-12 and Soriano was 2-for-14 as the Cubs went 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position.