BAT MEN RETURN Nats should have an opportunity to take a bite out of O’s fan base
Cole, Scherzer to face off again — and in more ways — in Game 5
WASHINGTON — In one sense, Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole have already faced each other in the World Series, with the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros’ respective aces opposing each other on the mound in Game 1.
But in Game 5 on Sunday, with Scherzer back on the mound for the Nationals and Cole pitching again for the Astros, the right-handers will have to bat against each other with the series having shifted to Nationals Park and thus National League rules. Although Cole began his career in the NL with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he’s spent the prior two years in the American League with Houston, possibly giving Scherzer an
PG. 5 advantage in that area.
“But then again, we are pretty crappy hitters,” Scherzer said before Saturday’s Game 4, “so I don’t think it’s that big of an advantage.”
It certainly doesn’t help that they’ll each have to bat against one of the toughest right-handed pitchers in baseball. Scherzer,
Believe it or not, there was a point this season when the World Series-bound Washington Nationals and the moribund Orioles had a lot in common.
It was mid-May and the Nats were floundering — their 19-31 record after 50 games is not hard to remember because it has been flashed on your TV screen at some point in every broadcast during their amazing march through the postseason.
On the same day, the Orioles were 15-35 and marching hard toward 100-plus losses for the second year in a row, both teams facing double-digit divisional deficits in the first season after free agency — or the prospect of it — cost each of them their biggest star.
That’s where the similarity ended, of course. The Nationals were still a star-studded team that figured to straighten itself out, though no one could have imagined just how dramatically they would do that.
The Orioles were committed to continuing in a different direction after the successful Buck Showalter-Dan Duquette era flamed out in late 2018 and smoldered long enough to set an ugly franchise record with 115 losses