Max & Cole will be hell on hitters in the opener

In a World Series that figures to have a bunch of pitchers’ duels, Game 1 should be a dandy with Max Scherzer facing Gerrit Cole.

Scherzer did not look quite right at the end of the regular season, posting a 4.81 ERA in eight starts coming off the injured list after the All-Star break. The 98-99 mph fastball was there, but his command was not, as he gave up nearly 1.9 home runs per nine innings in that time.

But since giving up three runs to the Brewers in the first inning-plus of the National League wild-card game, he is back to being himself with a 0.47 ERA, and opponents are hitting around .100 off of him.

On the other side, Gerrit Cole has not had to face adversity in a long time, as the Astros won his past 16 starts. He last lost a decision May 22. Since then, he has given up more than two earned runs in just two of his subsequent 25 starts and has posted a 0.40 ERA with 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings. The two teams have been needing to get, on average, only about three innings out of their bullpen per game, and the Nationals have used a lot of their starters out of the bullpen to improve a relief staff that was last in the National League in ERA this season. With the Nationals having scored four runs or fewer in six of their 10 postseason games and the Astros having exceeded four runs in just four of their 11 games, be prepared for a low-scoring affair between two of the best starting pitchers in baseball in the opener. THE PLAY: NationalsAstros Game 1, Under 6¹/2 runs.