NL Wild Card game preview

*Photo from Federal Baseball*

   Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers will face the Washington Nationals in the NL Wild Card game in Washington on TBS. The Nats are back in the playoffs after a down 2018 season, and the Brewers are looking to continue their recent hot streak without their MVP, Christian Yelich. The winner of the game will face the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, starting Thursday. 

   The Nats will start staff ace Max Scherzer, who has had another Max Scherzer season, dominating hitters left and right. When manager Dave Martinez approached Scherzer about starting the wild card game, Scherzer was all for it. Martinez said that "I can't exactly say what he said to me, but he was excited. He's ready." The Nats had criticism abound after a lowly 19-31 start to the season, but they have turned it around very nicely, and should have the home fans rocking on Tuesday night. They ended the season on an 8 game winning streak, although they lost 4 times to the Brewers in the 6 times they have played each other this season.

   Milwaukee starts Brandon Woodruff, who shouldn't go terribly long, as he has only had two appearances in the last month due to an oblique injury. Ryan Braun said that "We're going into a hostile environment, playing against a hot team with one of the best pitchers in the league, certainly, it will be a challenge, but we've had our backs against the wall all month. We've been counted out many times. We kind of like being in that position." Milwaukee ended the season after winning 18 of their last 23 games, but fell just short of the NL central title. Braun missed the final series of the season with a calf injury. 

   Scherzer will pitch on 6 days rest for Washington. He is 4-5 with a 3.73 ERA in 16 playoff games, 13 of them being starts. Scherzer is 2-2 with a 2.29 ERA in 9 career games against the Brewers. He said that "Season's on the line, I've pitched in these situations before, and it's just crazy baseball, intensity's out of your mind. And you've got to go out there and be your best and just compete as hard as you can." Martinez hinted that top pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin could be available to pitch out of the bullpen. 

   My pick to win this game is the Washington Nationals. They will live to face the Dodgers, and they will advance by a score of 6-5, with Scherzer getting the win. This will be a good game to watch.