The Los Angeles Dodgers took an early lead on Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals but went on to suffer a 6-1 loss that forced their 2019 National League Division Series matchup to a Game 5 on Wednesday night.
First pitch at Dodger Stadium is officially scheduled for 5:37 p.m. PT. The winner will advance to the NL Championship Series to face the Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals, who also are playing to a Game 5 in their NLDS matchup.
The Dodgers are expected to start Walker Buehler, with the Nationals calling on Stephen Strasburg. Both right-handers will be going on at least four days’ rest.
Buehler held the Nationals to just one hit and had eight strikeouts over six innings in Game 1 last week. Strasburg answered back the following night with 10 strikeouts in six innings to help the Nationals even up the NLDS at one game apiece.
Considering Kershaw was available but did not appear out of the bullpen in the Game 4 loss, he presumably will be an option for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Similarly, Nationals manager Dave Martinez figures to have Patrick Corbin at his disposal.
This marks a the second time in postseason the Dodgers and Nationals have gone to a Game 5 in the NLDS. The last instance was in 2016, which L.A. won at Nationals Park behind a gutty performance by Kenley Jansen and a Clayton Kershaw save.
The Dodgers’ last NLDS Game 5 at Dodger Stadium was in 2015, when they lost to the New York Mets.
Wednesday’s game will again be televised by TBS, as the network has exclusive broadcasting rights for the NLDS and entire portion of the NL playoffs. Along with their television broadcasts, NLDS and NLCS can be streamed online via the Watch TBS app.
An alternative option for those without a cable subscription is signing up for Sling TV and fuboTV, or streaming through PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, Hulu and others.
SlingTV offers a subscription for $15 per month for the “Sling Orange” package, which has TBS, allowing access to the NLDS games.
Postseason games for MLB.TV subscribers are only available for those with “authenticated access,” meaning customers who also purchase participating cable or satellite services. Because every postseason game is nationally broadcast, a standard MLB.TV account will not suffice.
A workaround is MLB’s playoff streaming service, Postseason.TV, but that only grants access to “live alternative video feeds,” and not the regular game broadcast, which remains blacked out. Archived broadcasts are available roughly two hours after the final out of a game is recorded.
Complete 2019 NLDS schedule with start times and TV information
Game 1: Dodgers 6, Nationals 0
Game 2: Nationals 4, Dodgers 2
Game 3: Dodgers 10, Nationals 4
Game 4: Nationals 6, Dodgers 1
Game 5: Wednesday, Oct. 9, Dodger Stadium, 5:37 p.m. PT (TBS)
