Scherzer-Wainwright matchup one for ages
LOS ANGELES — Two wily veterans on the mound in an elimination game. Adam Wainwright starting for the reinvigorated St. Louis Cardinals against the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Scherzer, pitching as well as he ever has.
“It’s as fun as it gets, right?” Wainwright said, smiling.
Indeed, though neither team wanted to be in the position of playing in the NL wild-card game.
The Cardinals (90-72) rode a 17-game winning streak into the second wild-card spot.
The Dodgers’ mark of 10656 was the second-best in baseball behind the rival San Francisco Giants (10755), who ended LA’s streak of eight consecutive NL West titles on the final day of the regular season.
The relative absurdity of the defending World Series champions having to play a dangerous wild-card game after winning that many games doesn’t bother Scherzer. LA’s record is the best of any defending World Series champion since 1969, when divisional play began.
“There’s no crying in baseball,” he said. “You have to win your division. We didn’t win our division.”
So, here they are. Wainwright (17-7) faces Scherzer (15-4) at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, where the Dodgers ended the regular season on a franchise-record 15-game home winning streak. Their 53-28 home record was tops in the majors.
It’s just the second winner-take-all game in postseason history with two starting pitchers aged 37-plus. Wainwright is 40; Scherzer is 37.
The two have squared off once before in the postseason.
Scherzer and the Washington Nationals beat Wainwright and the Cardinals in Game 2 of the 2019 NL Championship Series. Scherzer allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings; Wainwright allowed three runs in 7⅓. Both had 11 strikeouts.
Scherzer is 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA since joining the Dodgers from Washington, along with NL batting champion Trea Turner, at the July trade deadline. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is from the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield.
Scherzer had a combined 236 strikeouts between the Dodgers and Nationals; Wainwright had 174.
Wainwright has an enviable 28-15 record with a 2.89 ERA in the postseason.