The Washington Nationals will play host to the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday night, both hoping to advance to play the National League’s top team in the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This winner takes all game will feature a dominating pitching staff for Washington while Milwaukee is missing their top hitter Christian Yelich but won seven of their last 10 games to steal the final Wild Card spot away from the Chicago Cubs.
Both of these teams have had to battle some adversity, with the Nationals posting a 19-31 record by the end of May. But since then, the Nationals have been one of the better teams in baseball and are currently one of the hottest teams right now, winning nine of their last 10 games. Keep an eye on third baseman Anthony Rendon, who was an MVP candidate earlier this month, but has been on a massive slump recently (.154 BA, 73 wRC+ over the last two weeks).
Without Yelich, the Brewers offense can be a bit anemic but former MVP Ryan Braun and All-Star catcher Yasmani Grandal have helped pick up the slack. Milwaukee is hoping to score early and deploy their bullpen in hopes it’s enough to secure the win on Tuesday night.
It will be Max Scherzer on the mound facing-off against opener Brandon Woodruff but expect both teams to utilize all their top arms in this must-win, play-in game. Nationals manager Dave Martinez may go from Scherzer to Stephen Strasburg in this game, which would make Patrick Corbin the Game 1 starter of the NLDS, should the Nationals win Tuesday night.
Brewers’ starter Woodruff has only pitched in two games since July, so expect manager Craig Counsell to get creative on how he eventually gets the ball in his best arm: closer Josh Hader.
Here’s how to watch tonight’s NL Wild Card game:
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 1
Time: 8:08 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park, SE Washington D.C.
TV Info: TBS
Live Stream: TBS.com or download the TBS app