We get you set for Game 1 between the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals with our keys to the game.
Tonight, the National League Divisional Series between the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs will get underway at Nats Park (7:31 p.m ET, TBS). It is the matchup that has the defending World Series champions against the team looking to get out of the first round for the first time.
The pitching matchup should be a good one as the Cubs will send Kyle Hendricks the mound against Stephen Strasburg for the Washington Nationals. While neither would be consider the ace of their respective team, both head into the postseason pitching well.
While this series is a best-of-five, Game 1 is always important and that is the case for the Nats with Max Scherzer not pitching until at least Game 3 with the hamstring injury. Plus, in the three times the Nats have played a Game 1, they are 1-2 with their lone win coming in 2012 against St. Louis.
As for the Cubs, their success hasn’t been great in Game 1 either. In their last five series, they are 2-3. However, they did come back to win after losing Game 1 in last year’s World Series and in the 2015 NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals lost on the road).
Remember that we will be having DoDcast postgame shows after each game, so join us on our YouTube page where you can chat with us about the game. Plus, we talked with Ryan Davis of Fanrag and Sporting News as well as Casey Stern of TBS this week about the series.
So let’s get into our storylines to watch with Game 1 and it starts with a strategic aspect to this game.