Nationals Probable Pitchers

The Brewers were 18-4 when Woodruff pitched in the regular season, but don't expect him to pitch deep into the game. He's recently back from an oblique injury and will probably go two or three innings before Milwaukee turns to its deep bullpen.

Scherzer gets the ball with the season on the line, trying to put a frustrating second half spent battling nagging injuries behind him. He's pitched in four postseason games during his Nats career, going 0-2 with a 3.72 ERA with 20 strikeouts.

The Nats will be handing Corbin the first postseason start of his career for Game 1 against the Dodgers, whom he dominated over seven scoreless innings on May 9. The lefty has posted a 3.36 ERA in 21 career outings (19 starts) vs. L.A.

Buehler finished with a 2.99 second-half ERA, and went 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA in two starts against Washington. His last postseason start was brilliant: Seven scoreless innings against the Red Sox in Game 3 of last year’s World Series.

Strasburg has quickly built an excellent postseason resume. In four career playoff games, he has given up just one earned run in 22 innings (0.41 ERA) with 28 strikeouts and four walks. He makes this start just three days after throwing 34 pitches in the NL Wild Card Game.

The Dodgers slotted Kershaw into Game 2 so he would be fresh for a Game 5 relief appearance, if needed. It also will provide a veteran option to start Game 5 if there’s reason to pivot away from Game 1 starter Walker Buehler. Kershaw seemed fine with it.

When you lead the Major Leagues in ERA, you pitch well everywhere. Ryu is more dominant at home, but the Dodgers opted to start him on the road this postseason, in part because it isn’t comfortable with the workload required if Ryu were to start twice in the NLDS.

Sanchez faced the Dodgers twice this season, taking a loss in May before holding Los Angeles to a run over seven innings in July. He lost to the Dodgers in last year's NLDS as a member of the Braves.

The Dodgers would be thrilled to get four innings from Hill, considering a week ago they didn’t expect his left knee to be healthy enough for him to pitch and were looking at a full bullpen game. The bullpen will use the travel day to recover.

Scherzer won’t be on full rest, but he’s unlikely to have a normal schedule as long as the Nationals remain in play. He came out of the bullpen on two days’ rest to strike out the side in the eighth inning of Washington’s Game 2 victory.