{"id":16201,"date":"2019-10-03T10:36:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T14:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16201"},"modified":"2019-10-03T10:40:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T14:40:55","slug":"nlds-preview-nationals-vs-dodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16201","title":{"rendered":"NLDS Preview: Nationals vs Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2019-mlb-postseason.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16204\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16204\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2019-mlb-postseason-300x169.jpeg\" alt=\"2019-mlb-postseason\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2019-mlb-postseason-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2019-mlb-postseason.jpeg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Nats\u00a0used two starters to get to this point; how much will it hamper their efforts to supplant the class of the NL this\u00a0 year?\u00a0 Maybe not too much, if we can get Strasburg on short rest to pitch Game 2.\u00a0 Read on.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a preview of the 2019 NLDS.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/2019-mlb-postseason-schedule\">MLB Post Season schedule<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Likely Pitching match-ups:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Game 1: Thurs 10\/3\/19 5:37pm EST in LA: <strong>Patrick Corbin<\/strong> vs\u00a0<strong>Walker Buehler<\/strong> (officially announced)<\/li>\n<li>Game 2: Fri 10\/4\/19: 5:37pm EST in LA: likely <strong>Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>\u00a0vs\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(likely)\u00a0<strong>Clayton Kershaw<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Game 3: Sun 10\/6\/19 time tbd in DC:\u00a0<strong>Max Scherzer<\/strong>\u00a0vs (likely)\u00a0<strong>Hyung-Jin Ryu<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Game 4: Mon 10\/7\/19 time tbd in DC (if necessary): likely\u00a0<strong>Anibal Sanchez<\/strong>\u00a0vs (likely)\u00a0<strong>Rich Hill\/Kenta Maeda<\/strong>\/bullpen game<\/li>\n<li>Game 5: Wed 10\/9\/19 time tbd in LA (if necessary): Corbin vs Buehler rematch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I just don&#8217;t think Scherzer can come back on 2 days rest to start a game on Friday, but as noted Strasburg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/gameday\/brewers-vs-nationals\/2019\/10\/01\/599336#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=599336\">only threw 34 pitches<\/a> in the WC game and seems like he can get the start on Friday with perhaps a short leash\/pitch count.\u00a0 This means Scherzer on full regular rest for the Sunday home game (that he&#8217;ll be up for, for sure) and then\u00a0at Sanchez for game 4.\u00a0\u00a0That should get the series back to LA and line up a possible game 5 with probably the best possible guy on the hill for that game (lefty Corbin).<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile the Dodgers are going with the kid Buehler instead of Kershaw; two years ago it was Kershaw that killed the Nats.\u00a0 But the last time the Nats saw Buehler they bombed him.\u00a0 The Dodger&#8217;s 4th starter is a question mark; Hill is coming off injury and threw just a handful of innings in September but he&#8217;s always been solid against the Nats.\u00a0 If they have to go Maeda or their 5th starter\u00a0<strong>Ross Stripling<\/strong> its not like its a huge step down in performance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>Season head to head: LA beat DC 4 out of 7; they split four games in LA in May interestingly, when the team was nearly at its nadir, then LA took two of three in DC in mid July when the team had turned it around.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a quick summary of our pitchers versus LA this season.\u00a0 First in our 4-game set in LA:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Patrick Corbin<\/strong>; beat\u00a0<strong>Rich Hill<\/strong> in LA 6-0 and pitched beautifully; 7ip, 3hits, 0 runs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anibal Sanchez<\/strong>: lost to\u00a0<strong>Kenta Maeda<\/strong> in LA; gave up 6 hits, walked 2 more and got yanked in the 5th<\/li>\n<li><strong>Max Scherzer<\/strong> beat LA giving up 2 runs in 7 innings, but\u00a0<strong>Walker Buehler<\/strong> was better and the team only won b\/c we got to LA&#8217;s bullpen<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stephen Strasburg<\/strong> gave up 2 in 6 but\u00a0<strong>Hyung-Jin Ryu<\/strong> gave up one hit through 8 to beat the Nats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>then, in DC in July:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sanchez pitched one of the best games of his season giving up 1 run on 3 hits to match Ryu&#8217;s similar output, then the Dodgers got to the bullpen for the win (stop me if you&#8217;ve heard that before)<\/li>\n<li>Kershaw threw a QS and the Nats tried the &#8220;opener&#8221; for the only time on the year (starting\u00a0<strong>Matt Grace<\/strong> with some success) before\u00a0<strong>Joe Ross<\/strong> blew up and got the loss<\/li>\n<li>Strasburg was brilliant, giving up 1 run on 2 hits through 7 and the Nats beat\u00a0Buehler to avoid the sweep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So.\u00a0 what can we glean from this?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Our lefties have been pretty good against the Dodgers and Corbin may have some success.<\/li>\n<li>As a team, the Dodgers are much better against RHs versus LHs &#8230; but they&#8217;re still pretty good against both.<\/li>\n<li>Sanchez was more than adequate in his two LA starts.<\/li>\n<li>Scherzer and Strasburg should be able to keep the team in games.<\/li>\n<li>LA really doesn&#8217;t like hitting against either Strasburg or Corbin, and neither of them are the Nats Ace.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I gotta admit, i&#8217;m liking our chances here.\u00a0 This is where having a big-3 of pitching aces matters; the Dodgers are going to have to win more two starts being made by Corbin, Strasburg and Scherzer, three guys who are all likely getting Cy Young votes this year.\u00a0 I expect a bunch of low-scoring games with the Nats hoping to god their patchwork bullpen keeps it together.<\/p>\n<p>Notable that the closer in the WC game wasn&#8217;t\u00a0<strong>Sean Doolittle<\/strong>?\u00a0 Or was that playing matchups with the Brewers?\u00a0 Something to watch for.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nats\u00a0used two starters to get to this point; how much will it hamper their efforts to supplant the class of the NL this\u00a0 year?\u00a0 Maybe not too much, if we can get Strasburg on short rest to pitch Game 2.\u00a0 Read on. Here&#8217;s a preview of the 2019 NLDS. MLB Post Season schedule Likely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2036],"tags":[777,426,3960,1597,1037,1855,2773,38,2534],"class_list":["post-16201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","category-post-season","tag-anibal-sanchez","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-hyung-jin-ryu","tag-kenta-maeda","tag-max-scherzer","tag-patrick-corbin","tag-rich-hill","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-walker-buehler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16201"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16211,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16201\/revisions\/16211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}