The 2002 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round on the National League side of Major League Baseball’s 2002 postseason, began on Tuesday, October 1, and ended on Monday, October 7, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were:

The Cardinals and Giants went on to meet in the NL Championship Series (NLCS). The Giants became the National League champion, and lost to the American League champion Anaheim Angels in the 2002 World Series.

San Francisco won the series, 3–2.

St. Louis won the series, 3–0.

The Atlanta Braves had continued to move forward in a golden era of consistency that had resulted in their eleventh consecutive division title since 1991 (with only the cancelled 1994 season being the exception), marked by consistent pitching from Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Kevin Millwood (who combined for 52 wins to 25 losses) to go with John Smoltz and his league-leading 55 saves. They won over 100 games for the first since 1999, having experienced an improvement of thirteen games from the previous year. The Braves led the National League in runs allowed, ERA (3.13), and hits allowed (San Francisco led in home runs allowed). For the San Francisco Giants, this was their third postseason appearance in the past six seasons. While a five-game improvement from last year was not enough to catch the NL West title, it was enough to loom over the lone Wild Card spot, marked by ending the year with an eight-game winning streak. As for the Giants, Barry Bonds (who experienced back-to-back NLCS losses to the Braves in 1991 and 1992 as the left fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates) continued his unprecedented run to start the 21st century. While he had less games played and home runs from the previous year, he managed to hit 46 while drawing a record of 198 walks while batting a career high .370 to coast to the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award, which was his fifth as a player and second of ultimately four in a row. Right beside Bonds in offense was Jeff Kent, who hit .313 with 37 home runs with 195 hits in 152 games. While Kirk Rueter and Russ Ortiz led the Giants in wins as a pitcher (14), it was Robb Nen who served as the key star in pitching once again. In his fifth season with the Giants, he went to the All-Star Game for the third time while garnering 43 saves.

For Bonds, this was a chance to end the narrative as a playoff under-performer. Bonds, who broke the single-season home run record in 2001, entered the 2002 playoffs with just one home run in 97 career postseason at-bats.

Additionally, this was a chance for the Giants to avenge their 1993 pennant race defeat to the Braves, who blew a ten games lead in the National League West to Braves in the last two and a half months of the season, while also becoming the only team to win 100 or more games and not make the playoffs in the divisional play era. It had since been referred to as the last real pennant race due to the playoff format changing the next season, which allowed a team to make the playoffs without winning the division (also known as a wild card).

Turner Field in Atlanta