Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals open the 2019 NLDS. The Dodgers went 106-56 and won the NL West. The Nationals beat the Brewers in the NL Wild Card Game earlier this week. Here is the full postseason schedule.
Now let's set the scene with some essentials.
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How to watch
Date: Thursday, Oct. 3 | Time: 8:37 p.m. ET
Location: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, CA)
TV: TBS | Stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Odds: LAD: -167 | WAS: +130 | O/U: 7.5
Pitchers: Patrick Corbin vs. Walker Buehler
Follow: CBS Sports App
Preview
Thanks in part to Trent Grisham's blunder, the Nationals advanced to the NLDS, though they had to use Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the Wild Card Game. That leaves Corbin for NLDS Game 1 and hey, that's not bad. He's really good and he owns a career 3.36 ERA in over 100 innings against the Dodgers dating back to his days with the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers will counter not with Hyun-Jin Ryu or Clayton Kershaw, but Buehler, who might be their best starter.
Each team brings an exciting young outfielder to the NLDS (Cody Bellinger and Juan Soto), a star third baseman (Justin Turner and Anthony Rendon), and a highlight reel shortstop (Corey Seager and Trea Turner). And bullpen questions. This series could come down to which setup crew best hands the ball to the closer, though neither closer (Kenley Jansen and Daniel Hudson/Sean Doolittle) has been automatic in 2019.
Prediction
The SportsLine Projection Model (@SportsLine on Twitter) sees the Dodgers as favorites. We see no cause to disagree. We'll say Buehler out-duels Corbin and Turner comes up with the big hit in the late innings against Washington's bullpen in Game 1. This series should be very exciting.
Pick: Dodgers 3, Nationals 2
