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NL Wild Card Game Preview: Brewers vs Nationals

By Joseph Romano

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 07: Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals watches the game against the Kansas City Royals at Nationals Park on July 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 07: Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals watches the game against the Kansas City Royals at Nationals Park on July 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

The 2019 NL Wild Card game is upon us and it features the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals. Who has the best lineup, best rotation, and Who will win?

An awful start for the Washington Nationals nearly saw them outside of the picture, however, they rectified this from June on. The Milwaukee Brewers‘ loss of Christian Yelich seemed to be an imminent death sentence, but it actually caused them to surge to a playoff berth.

The overall roster construction of these teams is somewhat similar, where a collection of productive hitters is led by one or two stars. The elite presence of Yelich being deprived of the Milwaukee Brewers lineup is, of course, detrimental, as the Washington Nationals still have the presence of Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto.

The bullpen’s have had equal struggles with far more security at the back end as opposed to the middle. Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson anchor the Washington bullpen that has found a great deal of ridicule in 2019 for blown leads. Likewise, Josh Hader has basically been the only reliable option for the Brew Crew.

The Nationals have the upper hand in terms of rotation and while that may not seem to be of much import for a play-in game it still can have an impact on the outcome. Someone such as Stephen Strasburg or Patrick Corbin can pitch an inning of relief- depending on their schedule- and bridge between the starter and relievers.

The Brewers can do this as well, due to rotational depth, yet the quality of the starter is just not the same.

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