Los Angeles (2-2) at Washington (2-2)
When: Thursday, October 13th 2016
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
Time: 8:05 ET | TV: FOX Sports 1
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals will play the only Game 5 of this year’s Division Series and the winner will advance to Chicago to take on the Cubs. The Dodgers got a homerun from Adrian Gonzalez and a go-ahead RBI hit from Chase Utley on Tuesday to force a deciding game in the Nation’s Capital on Thursday. Clayton Kershaw, throwing on three days rest, threw 110 pitches and struck out 11 before running out of gas in the 7th inning. The Nationals are getting most of their offense from Tre Turner (.353), Jayson Werth (.467), and of course, Daniel Murphy (.462), who had four RBIs in Game 4. Dodgers Corey Seager has two homers in the series but his 0-for-5 performance on Tuesday dropped him to 3-for-18 in the series. Washington manager Dusty Baker has lost a major-league record eight consecutive postseason games when his teams had a chance to clinch a series victory. The Nationals will turn to Game 1 starter Max Scherzer, while the Dodgers will counter with Game 2 loser Rich Hill.
Pitchers: Dodgers – Rich Hill (0-1, 8.31 ERA) | Nationals – Max Scherzer (0-1, 6.00)
Hill is expected to start, but manager Dave Roberts hinted that 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias is also part of the Game 5 pitching plan. “I think that we talked about Rich as an option, obviously, but so is Julio and how we want to strategize to win Game 5,” Roberts said. Hill lasted only 4.1 innings in Game 2 and gave up four runs on six hits and has a little trouble controlling his emotions while on the mound. Urias was ready to pitch Game 4 until the Dodgers ultimately decided on Kershaw.
Scherzer allowed 31 homeruns during the regular season and gave up a couple of bombs to Seager and Justin Turner in Game 1. He gave up four runs and five hits in six innings while losing against Kershaw in Game 1. Scherzer did not face the Dodgers in the regular season prior to his Game 1 start.
History does not favor the Nationals in this game as they have not won a postseason series since they moved from Montreal and Baker’s record in these games as we mentioned above, speaks for itself. The Dodgers got to Scherzer in Game 1 and I think they’ll do it again. L.A. has a deeper bench that will be able to counter and moves Baker makes from the bullpen.
Pick: Dodgers +140
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