The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ hopeful 2019 World Championship run begins tonight.
The Dodgers, owners of the best record in the National League, welcome the Washington Nationals to Chavez Ravine to begin a best-of-five National League Divisional Series. The Nationals bested the Milwaukee Brewers in their Wild Card game on Tuesday, a come-from-behind 4-3 win.
Yesterday, Manager Dave Roberts announced Wednesday that Walker Buehler will be the Dodgers’ Game One starter. Rich Hill was previously announced as the Game Four starter, and the order of Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu in between has not yet be announced.
“We just felt that with Walker getting the opportunity to pitch the first game, also potentially a Game 5, gives us the best chance to win, regardless of opponent,” Roberts said.
Hill also may be used out of the bullpen in either Game 1 or 2. Depending on the scenario, Hill could be used for an inning, or an out, or using some in-game throwing as a bullpen.
“We see Rich as a starter, but with that, there’s a situation where I could see him in the ‘pen for Games 1 and 2, if there’s a potential matchup and to essentially use that — or even getting hot as his bullpen — or to come into a game to get an out or two,” Roberts said.
For their part, the Nationals will be sending Patrick Corbin to the mound. Corbin has been somewhat of a Dodger killer – he has only allowed two earned runs in his last 30 innings pitched against them, including seven scoreless earlier this season. He also has struck out 38 Dodgers in that time. Previously with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Corbin has allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of his 19 all time starts against the Dodgers. However, this is his first postseason start. The left-hander relies heavily on his slider to set up his fastball and if the location of the fastball hits, it could be difficult for the Dodgers to get runs early.
The Dodgers will throw out a right handed heavy lineup to face Corbin. Yesterday Roberts announced that David Freese, Chris Taylor, Justin Turner, Will Smith and A.J. Pollock will be in the lineup. Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy and Corey Seager should fill out the rest of the docket to get Buehler some runs.
The Nationals come in hot, winning eight of their last regular season games. Lead by Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner and Juan Soto, they have a formidable lineup. Soto and Rendon are tied with 34 homers each to lead the team. Turner has 35 stolen bases on the season. Rendon is heavily in the conversation for NL MVP, leading the majors in RBI and in the top 5 in about every other offensive category.
Washington sent Max Scherzer to the mound in the Wild Card game, where he promptly allowed three runs in the first inning. He would presumably not be starting until Game 3. The Nats have also yet to announce who their Game 2 starter would be, as Stephen Strasburg threw three innings of relief in that Wild Card game. If it’s not Strasburg, it would be Anibal Sanchez.
While the Dodgers bullpen has been iffy at times throughout the season, the Nationals bullpen could prove to be their downfall. Former Dodger Daniel Hudson has emerged as their closer, after Sean Doolittle was sidelined with injury and hasn’t quite gotten back to his true form.
The key will be patience from the Dodgers’ bats, working the pitch count to get into that bullpen and making the Nationals use all of their pitchers. The home run will also be a good indicator- both off the bats of the Boys in Blue, and not allowing the Nationals to hit too many. The Nationals are hot, and the Dodgers have all the pressure having lost the last two World Series. But the Dodgers are overall the better team, and will clinch the NLDS in DC.
Game time for Game 1 is 5:37 pm PDT. Pregame ceremonies begin at 5:00, and the game will be on TBS.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
First inning crucial for Dodgers. Corbin will be nervous and maybe a bit wild in his first post season appearance. Patience and take a walk and look for a mistake. A couple of walks and a long ball give the Dodgers the early lead and Buehler doesn’t give it back!
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Buehler pitched 7 innings in his one start against the Nats in LA and gave up 1 run. I do not think Walker is going to be frightened by the Nats. There most dangerous hitter is Rendon. But keeping Turner off of the bases is one of the keys to winning. Ryu was even better against DC in his one start against them in LA. He had a no hitter into the 8th. He is so much better in LA that I think he is the game 2 starter. Just as a lot of fans fear the DC starting rotation, their fans should fear ours. Their bullpen is even worse than ours. DC is 8th in the league in pitching, but they are the 2nd best hitting team in the league. The Dodgers have to be aware of their base runners. They are one of only 3 teams who stole
100 bases or more this year. The Dodgers only swiped 57. But the Dodgers did hit more HR’s, and score more runs than DC despite batting 8 points lower. Callaway fired by the Mets today. Pirates, Mets, Padres, Giants, Angels, Royals and Cubs all with managerial vacancy’s.
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We’re chasing early.
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Missed a big opportunity that first inning!
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I think both Freese and Pollock have trouble picking up spin. Over 30 eyes.
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And Turner! Just what I was fearful of. They all look rusty!
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Howie our MVP!
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Yep. Turner too. We can clobber fastballs. Those that spin? Not so much.
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He may be the regular season MVP but he’s no playoff MVP!
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Fernando Rodney wears his hat just like Alex Verdugo. 😄
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Do you know why he does that?
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I know there was a story about Rodney doing it as a tribute to his father in some capacity. I believe Verdugo does it because he thinks he looks like a cool guy.
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Exactly. His father was a field worker and would move the bill of his cap through the course of the day to shade his face.
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One down! 10 to go! Cmon Kersh!
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Watching the tv after the game, and one of the analysts said the dodgers had the best bullpen era in the NL, since June first. Since I watched almost all of those games I was quite shocked with that stat, it never felt that way while I was watching those games. The bullpen did look good tonight though.
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I’m surprised too.
For a long time Word Press has recognized me. Now it’s back to signing in every time I post. Annoying.
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Same thing has been happening to me for a few months, bear, I thought it was just me.
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I’ve been to the Word Press site to log in about 5 times this morning. Hasn’t done any good. It recognizes me as Scoop but won’t accept the password I’ve been using since I signed up here. Sometimes out of nowhere I’m just signed in and I can post and edit. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. Probably user error but it’s frustrating. Does no good to press the “remember me” box. It doesn’t remember.
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Sorry scoop, bear is the one that is always changing his icon, so I got you mixed up.
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No problem. I figured that was the case.
Another weird thing has happened. I’m posting from my phone now, but on my iPad I’m signed in. I got an icon picture there. Does it show up for you guys? Doesn’t on my phone.
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Yeah I’m seeing the squirrel icon on my iPad, scoop. I’m on an iPad but I still have to sign in every time I want to post.
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Hello everyone! I am enjoying reading your site. This is my 1st post. I feel good about the Dodgers chances and I hope they get the win tonight.
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