What will it take for the Nationals to stage a comeback?

1. Mad Max at his best

Dave Martinez went against conventional wisdom in Game 2 by using Max Scherzer, his presumptive Game 3 starter, in relief. That’s how bad the Nationals bullpen has been this season and in the first few days of the postseason. Martinez has absolutely zero confidence that any of his relievers, with Daniel Hudson perhaps the lone exception, can get crucial outs in a close game.

Burning Scherzer for an inning in Game 2 likely cost the Nationals a crucial Game 3 at home. They were cruising behind five solid innings from Anibal Sanchez, but Martinez’s strategy to squeeze every last drop bit of juice out of his three aces backfired. Patrick Corbin blew up and the rest is history. The Nats now have to play two elimination games.

If there’s reason for Nationals fans to be hopeful, solace can be found in how dominant Scherzer looked in his inning of relief in Game 2. The right-hander struck out the side on 14 pitches, getting five swinging strikes. Scherzer did not look like himself in the Wild Card Game and had a 5.03 ERA over his final six starts of the season after coming off the injured list.

For all his accolades and awards, a signature postseason moment has eluded Scherzer in his career. He is just 4-5 with a 3.78 ERA in 18 playoff appearances and does not have a playoff win with the Nationals. Scherzer took the loss in the deciding Game 5 of the 2017 NLDS while pitching in relief. He gets another chance to deliver in a must-win game, and Nats fans have to hope his relief appearance helped him to get right.