John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Washington Nationals are hoping the fourth time’s a charm.
The Nats have been one of baseball’s premiere regular season teams in this decade, having won the National League East four times in the past six years. What they have not done is win a single playoff series in that time.
To advance this year, all they have to do is beat the defending World Champions.
Game One of the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs gets underway at Nats Park Friday night on TBS, with the first pitch at 7:31pm.
On paper, the Nationals do have to be considered the favorites. Conventional wisdom dictates that pitching wins in the post-season, and on that score, the Nats can deliver. Their starting rotation has been one of the strongest in baseball, with not one, but two legitimate Cy Young award contenders in Max Scherzer (who won his second Cy last season) and Stephen Strasburg, who will draw the game one assignment Friday night.
One genuine point of concern – Scherzer’s health. Mad Max spent the last several weeks of the regular season battling off minor physical maladies, including a stiff neck and – most recently – a hamstring cramp that will knock him back to a Game Three start in Chicago on Monday.
As a result, the Nats will go with Gio Gonzalez on the mound for Game Two Saturday. Gonzalez enjoyed perhaps the best season of his career with a 15-9 record, but the southpaw was roughed up in his final tune-up for the playoffs, giving up six runs in four-and-a-third innings last Sunday.
The Nationals’ bullpen, which was one of the worst in baseball to start the season, has turned into one of the game’s toughest units, thanks to some timely trading by General Manager Mike Rizzo. His trading-deadline deals for relievers Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle has given the Nats new ammunition, joining reliable righty Matt Albers to form a formidable firefighting unit.
The Cubs will counter with Kyle Hendricks as their Game 1 starter, followed by Jon Lester in Game 2, Jose Quintana in Game 3 and Jake Arrieta in Game 4. Both the Cubs starters and their bullpen struggled at times in 2017. Their efforts were good enough to squeak them to a division win, but they did not enjoy the dominance that helped the Cubs end their 108-year World Series winless streak.
At the plate, all eyes will be on Bryce Harper, who only managed a handful of at-bats after returning from a knee injury that sent him to the disabled list for the last month of the regular season. Without Harper, the Nats saw their run production fall by more than one run a game, so a productive Harper bat is considered crucial to the Nats’ chances of advancing to the National League Championship series.
That’s not to say the rest of the Nats’ bats are slouches. Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and Michael A. Taylor have all enjoyed career years at the plate. Trea Turner is one of the most dangerous base runners in the game, and Daniel Murphy,while off his near-MVP pace of 2016, is still Wade Boggs-ian in his ability to put the ball in play.
Getcha popcorn ready.
Here is the schedule for the series:
Friday, Oct. 6 – Cubs @ Nationals – 7:31pm – TBS
Saturday, Oct. 7 – Cubs@ Nationals – 5:38pm – TBS
Monday, Oct. 9 – Nationals@ Cubs – TBD – TBS
Tuesday, Oct. 10 – Nationals@ Cubs – (if necessary – Time TBD) – TBS
Thurs. Oct. 12 – Cubs@Nationals – (if necessary – Time TBD) – TBS
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