Having clinched the best record in the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers watched from afar as the Washington Nationals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card Game — setting the stage for a second postseason matchup in four seasons.
The two teams square off on Thursday for Game 1 of the 2019 NL Division Series at Dodger Stadium, which also marks Cody Bellinger bobblehead night. The first 40,000 fans in attendance will receive the special edition bobblehead depicting Bellinger in his home run trot.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced on Wednesday that Buehler will start in the series opener, giving him the nod over other veterans such as Hyun-Jin Ryu and Clayton Kershaw.
The right-hander was humbled by the decision, but is treating the game like any other outing. Fresh off an All-Star campaign, Buehler compiled a 14-4 record (NL-best .778 winning percentage), 3.26 ERA, 3.01 FIP and 1.04 WHIP in a career-high 182.1 innings pitched during the regular season (30 starts).
He especially thrived at Dodger Stadium, accumulating a 6-1 record, 2.86 ERA and 0.89 WHIP with 112 strikeouts against 10 walks in 91.1 innings of work (14 starts).
Buehler faced the Nationals twice this season, allowing seven runs (four earned) on 12 hits in 12.1 innings pitched. He posted a 2.92 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in those outings, striking out 13 batters while issuing just four walks.
Opposing the 25-year-old is a familiar face in Patrick Corbin, who makes his postseason debut after spending the first six seasons of his career with the rival Arizona Diamondbacks.
Corbin enjoyed a fantastic 2019 campaign with the Nationals, notching a 14-7 record, 3.25 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 1.18 WHIP in 202 innings pitched. He struck out 238 batters in comparison to 70 walks and produced 5.4 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference’s calculations.
Having pitched in the NL West for six seasons, Corbin and the Dodgers are quite familiar with each other. The left-hander has started against L.A. 19 times over the course of his career, allowing two runs or fewer in 11 of those outings.
Corbin’s dominance carried over into the 2019 season, where he tossed seven shutout innings against the Dodgers back in early May. He additionally owns a career 2.97 ERA at Dodger Stadium in 11 starts.
Much of Corbin’s success this season can be attributed to his effective slider, which he throws 37% of the time. “It comes out of the same lane, window,” Roberts said.
“It’s the same thing that makes Clayton so successful. You just can’t see the spin and it just has, it obviously, it has more sweep than Clayton’s does. But the point being is that it’s hard, it’s in that same window, and then it has the depth and the horizontal movement, it’s just hard to pick up.”
With Corbin on the mound, the Dodgers have stacked their lineup with right-handed hitters. The only exceptions are Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and Max Muncy, who typically start against any handed pitcher.
“I think the way that Corey has come on, certainly in playing shortstop,” Roberts noted. “Obviously the year that Cody has had, the year that Max has had against left-handed pitching, overall, but against left-handed pitching in particular. So it was pretty easy.”
Juan Soto, fresh off his game-winning single that ended the Brewers’ season, is in the Nationals lineup, batting fourth. Rendon, one of Bellinger’s competitors for the 2019 NL MVP Award, is hitting third.
“I don’t necessarily think he’s a better hitter,” Roberts said of Soto’s progression from earlier in the year.
“I think that we pitched him well, we pitched him well, but he’s, as far as looking over baseball, staying in the strike zone, he’s top few in the game and it’s amazing his age, given his age, the ability to look over the baseball, to slug to all fields, hit lefties, righties, cover the ball at the top of the zone.
“Yeah, you got to be very smart because if you make a mistake he can really hurt you. And you’ve obviously got Rendon behind him, so, yeah, that’s a tough three, four to navigate, it really is. But they’re one through four, five are as good as anybody in all of baseball. But, again, for a young player to have the plate discipline that he has, it’s very rare.”
Dodgers lineup:
LF: A.J. Pollock
1B: David Freese
3B: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
RF: Chris Taylor
2B: Max Muncy
SS: Corey Seager
C: Will Smith
P: Walker Buehler
Nationals lineup:
SS: Trea Turner
RF: Adam Eaton
3B: Anthony Rendon
LF: Juan Soto
1B: Howie Kendrick
2B: Asdrubal Cabrera
CF: Victor Robles
C: Yan Gomes
P: Patrick Corbin
