Diamondbacks and Phillies face off for National League pennant

The big picture: There's no doubt — the Diamondbacks are underdogs in this best-of-seven series.

• Philly is making their second consecutive trip to the NLCS and is the reigning National League champion, losing last year's World Series to the Houston Astros in six games.
• Yes, but: The D-Backw were underdogs against the Brewers and Dodgers, too, and ended up sweeping both.
• The two wild card teams dispatched big-hitting favorites in the National League Division Series, with Philly taking out the Atlanta Braves, who had the best record in baseball this year.

Zoom in: Philly's lineup is stacked. Star sluggers Trea Turner and two-time MVP Bryce Harper, who missed the first month of the season, started the year slow but heated up at the end.

• The D-Backs' lineup lacks Philly's big names but still has some power, and likely NL rookie of the year Corbin Carroll is a threat to steal every time he's on base.
• Both teams will likely use their top two starters — Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly for the D-Backs, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola for the Phillies — in four games, but Philly has the pitching edge in the other three, The Athletic wrote.
• Arizona's bullpen was a consistent trouble spot throughout the regular season, but they made some midseason improvements and it's been great in the playoffs. But the Phillies still have more depth in that area.

By the numbers: The Phillies narrowly won the regular season series against the D-Backs, going 4-3.

• In the postseason, where both teams have caught fire, the Phillies are sporting a .274 team batting average to Arizona's .262 and a 1.53 ERA to our 2.20.
• By a narrow margin, Philly has scored more runs than the D-Backs and given up fewer in the postseason, but they've also played one more game than Arizona.

Flashback: This is the Diamondbacks' third trip to the NLCS.

• The most recent was in 2007, when the Colorado Rockies swept them. The time before, in 2001, Arizona won the World Series.

What's happening: We challenged our colleague Isaac Avilucea at Axios Philadelphia to tell us why he thinks the Phillies will win, and we did the same for him with the Diamondbacks.

Why Arizona will win:

• It's all about momentum. The D-Backs are the hottest team in the playoffs right now, and after two rounds of postseason baseball, they've yet to lose a game.

• They're young, hungry and have something to prove. No one thought the D-Backs would be here at the start of the season. Probably no one thought we'd be here at the start of the playoffs.
• My thought bubble: Statistically, I know Philly has the advantage in most areas — I'll give the D-Backs the edge when it comes to both teams' top two starters — but after watching what happened against the Brewers and especially the Dodgers, this D-Backs team has made a believer out of me.

Why Isaac thinks Philadelphia will win:

• Baseball is about pitching, and we have a better, deeper pitching staff that'll outlast the Diamondbacks.
• Home field advantage. The Phillies won 60% of their home games in the regular season, and they can pretty much bank on winning at home in the playoffs, where they're 10-2 over the last three years, including this season's unblemished record.
• Don't think for a second that the Phillies aren't salivating about making it back for another World Series and a revenge match with the Houston Astros.

📺 First pitch is 5:07pm on TBS.