Cardinals tab Lackey for NLDS opener

With Carlos Martinez out for the season and Adam Wainwright working out of the bullpen, the St. Louis Cardinals will send veteran right-hander John Lackey to the mound for Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Friday.

Ahead of Wednesday's National League wild-card game at PNC Park, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny confirmed the soon-to-be 37-year-old will start Friday at Busch Stadium against either the Chicago Cubs or Pittsburgh Pirates.

Acquired last year in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, Lackey enjoyed arguably the finest season of his career in 2015, fashioning a career-best 2.77 ERA with a 3.30 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 218 innings, his most since 2010.

"He's been as consistent as anybody in the league," Matheny said. "The fact he's been able to be on this stage, has had success on this stage, there are so many different things that he's brought to this club this year that makes it a pretty obvious choice."

Lackey, a two-time World Series champion, owns a 3.08 ERA in 21 career postseason appearances, notching 89 strikeouts while allowing just four home runs across 117 innings in October. In 2014, Lackey allowed just one run over seven innings in a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLDS before surrendering four runs over six frames in Game 3 of the championship series, a 5-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Matheny wasn't ready to divulge his starters for the rest of the division series Wednesday afternoon, though.

"Why should I?" Matheny said. "I know it's a hot topic, and I get it. Believe me, it's been something, since that day in Pittsburgh, we really hadn't tried to distract ourselves with getting too far ahead. But since then, it's been non-stop. I think everybody who follows the team closely realizes there are a lot of decisions that need to be made there. We haven't taken it lightly. We've spent a lot of hours trying to figure out what is going to be best for this club. But it's something we don't have to really put on paper until Friday."