Winnertakeall Game 5s on tap in National League
Stephen Strasburg’s 2012 shutdown is a distant memory by now.
This sort of setting and stakes — Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the outcome of the NL Division Series on the line — is exactly why the Washington Nationals protected the pitcher they drafted No. 1 overall all those years ago.
Strasburg will get the ball for visiting wild card Washington, and Walker Buehler will be on the mound for leaguebest L.A. on Wednesday night in the finale of the bestoffive series.
“Better to be at home than on the road in Game 5,” Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger said.
The Dodgers were 5922 at home in the regular season, when they drew over 3 million fans.
The Dodgers are trying to reach the NL Championship Series for the fourth consecutive year, while the Nationals have never won a playoff series since the franchise moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005.
“We’ve got their big horse against one of our horses,” Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki said.
⏩ The Braves head back to Atlanta for a decisive postseason game, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Over the years, Atlanta has been the place where other teams come to celebrate in October.
The St. Louis Cardinals hope to continue that trend when they face the Braves in Game 5.
Atlanta began a streak of nine straight postseasonround losses with a fivegame setback to Arizona in the 2001 NL Championship Series.
“I was just a little kid when that happened,” Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson said with a shrug. “History is history. We’re in the moment now. This is a completely different and new team.”
Still, it’s impossible to ignore that the Braves are just one series loss away from equaling an ignominious record set by the Chicago Cubs, who lost 10 series in a row between 1908 and 2003.
The pitching matchup will be a rematch of Game 2, when Atlanta’s Mike Foltynewicz outdueled Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals for a 30 victory.
⏩ Injured New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks feels like he’s ready to return to the roster for the AL Championship Series. Hicks, who has a right elbow flexor strain and last played on Aug. 3, is among a group of players at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa who were not on the AL Division Series roster.
New York, which completed a threegame sweep of Minnesota on Monday night, will face either Houston or Tampa Bay in Game 1 of ALCS on Saturday night.
Soccer: Forward Jozy Altidore is hurt again and will miss the United States’ Nations League games against Cuba and Canada. Altidore, who turns 30 next month, left Toronto FC’s regularseason finale on Sunday.
Tennis: Roger Federer didn’t face a break point as he won his opening match at the Shanghai Masters, beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas 62, 76 (5). Andy Murray lost to Fabio Fognini 76 (4), 26, 76 (2).