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National League West winners, the Giants secured home ground advantage throughout the playoffs and avoided having to play in a single game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Los Angeles Dodgers don’t have that luxury.
The Dodgers send three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer to the mound to face Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright on Wednesday night.
With Scherzer not available for potential weekend games against the Giants, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced Tuesday afternoon that Walker Buehler and Julio Urias will kick off Games 1 and 2 of the possible NLDS clash.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler has yet to announce any starters for any of the NLDS games, but if the Dodgers beat the Cardinals and advance, Buehler, one of the Dodgers’ multiple aces in the staff, would face a Giants’ team that would last scored six runs in three innings against him on September 5.
Urias, who is the only 20-game winner in MLB this season, has allowed two runs or less in all but one of his five starts against the Giants this season. The outlier was a May 29 start where the Giants scored six runs on 11 hits against him.
The biggest story surrounding the Dodgers this playoffs has been elbow injuries to starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw and first baseman Max Muncy. Kershaw is set to miss all of the playoffs, while Muncy still has a chance to come back.
If the Dodgers are to qualify for the NLDS – and that’s a big “if” because of the Cardinals’ heat – it looks to be a fantastic series against two passionate rivals.
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