*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
Right after winning the NL Wild Card game in dramatic fashion, the Washington Nationals are facing their biggest test of the postseason. That is trying to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nats will travel to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers in the best of 5 NLDS, with the winner moving to the NLCS. Let's take a look. The Nats will start lefty Patrick Corbin against the Dodgers' phenom Walker Buehler in game one, taking place Thursday night.
The Dodgers have been tearing up the league all season, finishing with a franchise best 106 wins. Their hitting is headlined by MVP candidate Cody Bellinger's crazy power, Joc Pederson right behind him. The infield consists of power hitters like Justin Turner and Max Muncy, David Freese can fill out first base, and Corey Seager is their franchise shortstop when he's healthy. Their catching includes a veteran in Russell Martin, and rookie Will Smith, to go with inexperienced Austin Barnes. Top prosepct Gavin Lux also helps solidify the middle infield. The outfield includes Bellinger, Pederson, AJ Pollock, Chris Taylor, and young gun Alex Verdugo. The rotation has been otherwordly this year, with Clayon Kershaw doing typical Kerhsaw things, Buehler bursting onto the scene as an ace, and Hyun-Jin Ryu pitching the best ball of his life. Rich Hill also adds a force to the back of the rotation, along with rookie and top prospect Dustin May. The bullpen has such names as 2018 postseason force Joe Kelly, Kenta Maeda, Julio Urias, Adam Kolarek, and top relievers Pedro Baez and closer Kenley Jansen. Bottom line, this team is loaded.
The Nats have quite a corps too. First up is MVP candidate Anthony Rendon, who proved he is worthy of a mega contract with a career season. Juan Soto and Victor Robles have been young guns who have given Washington a good outfield duo. Adam Eaton is another defensive rock who has played good right field. Gerardo Parra is a veteran face who can add postseason experience to the group. The infield consists of power hitting first baseman Matt Adams, middle infield forces in Howie Kendrick, Brian Dozier, and Asdrubal Cabrera, along with speedy shortstop Trea Turner and veteran corner infielder Ryan Zimmerman. The catching has a couple of solid veterans in Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki. The starting pitching contains 3 Cy Young winners in Corbin, Stephen Strasburg, and Max Scherzer, with Anibal Sanchez providing some back end stability. Their bullpen has been leaky all year, but has looked somewhat better lately, featuring Sean Doolittle, Daniel Hudson, Hunter Strickland, and Roenis Elias. This team has earned their place in the postseason, but the bullpen leaves a lot to be desired.
It will be a hard fought series, but I think the Dodgers win in 5 games. Washington is no pushover, and they will put up a fight, but the bullpen will undo them due to lack of production all year. They just don't have as much pitching depth as the Dodgers do, and that is what separates these teams. Washington also doesn't have Cody Bellinger either. We'll see how wrong i'll be soon enough.
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