In a one-game scenario, a baseball game can go any of a million different ways. This is what faces the Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers going into their NL wild-card game Tuesday night (8:08 p.m. Eastern, TBS).
The Nats and Brewers are two of the hottest teams in baseball. Washington, famously, finished the regular season on a 74-38 tear, and won 10 of its last 11, including its final eight games.
Milwaukee, not to be outdone, had been on a 20-4 streak before getting swept at Colorado over the weekend.
Hot, cold, whatever: it’s one game Tuesday night, basically a Game 7, that you can expect to be played that way.
Milwaukee will start Brandon Woodruff (11-3, 3.62 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 10.6K/9 in 2019). Washington is going with ace Max Scherzer (11-7, 2.92 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 12.7K/9).
You can expect that both teams will also have available their other frontline starters as needed.
For Milwaukee, that could mean some Zach Davies (10-7, 3.55 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 5.7K/9), a side of Chase Anderson (8-4, 4.21 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 8.0K/9), and then almost certainly an inning or two of stud reliever Josh Hader (3-5, 37/43 saves, 2.62 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 16.4K/9).
The Brewers have the advantage from the traditional pen with Hader.
The Nats may have the overall slight edge from the pitching perspective, though, assuming that they can also turn to Stephen Strasburg (18-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 10.8K/9), who would be on his normal rest on Tuesday, with lefty starter Patrick Corbin (14-7, 3.25 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 10.6K/9) available to maybe give you an inning or two, maybe as a closer/finisher.
Both Nats manager Davey Martinez and Brewers skipper Craig Counsell are likely to keep their pitchers on the shortest of leashes, given the stakes.
Another slight advantage, for what it’s worth, to the Nationals, who played the last week at home, while the Brewers were on the road, in Cincinnati and Denver.
The Milwaukee team, in essence, is still living out of suitcases, while the Washington guys have been sleeping in their own beds since last Sunday night.
Milwaukee also had to play the last weekend a little more stringently because the opportunity was there until Sunday afternoon to tie for the lead in the NL Central.
The Nats have been able, since clinching their playoff berth on Tuesday, to get rest for regulars.
So, again, slight edge there to Washington.
A big edge to Washington is that Milwaukee won’t have top MVP candidate Christian Yelich (.329/.429.671 slash line, 44 HR, 97 RBI in 2019), who went down for the season on Sept. 10 after breaking his kneecap on a foul ball.
Of course, it’s well-known that the Brewers responded well to losing Yelich, winning 13 of their next 15 games before the weekend sweep at Colorado.
Is it the case that Milwaukee was able to plow through for two weeks on emotion and maybe finally ran out of steam this weekend?
Could be. Could also be that the sweep is the Brewers catching their breaths.
The tailwind seems to be behind the Nationals right now, but baseball can be a cruel game, especially when it comes down to one-and-done.
Story by Chris Graham
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