Dodgers-Nationals series winner will head to World Series
By Ben Fadden
The Nationals and Dodgers are facing each other with super rotations, and that’s just one reason why the winner of the NLDS will advance to the World Series.
The Los Angeles Dodgers could very well be heading to their third consecutive World Series if they can get past the Nationals and then either the Braves or the Cardinals in the NLCS.
The Nationals could be making history by winning their first postseason series ever against the National League favorite Dodgers, and then could very well breeze by the Braves-Cardinals winner.
And with that said, I think whoever wins the Dodgers-Nationals NLDS series will reach the World Series because they both have strong rotations and have better all-around rosters than the Braves and Cardinals do.
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The Dodgers have Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu to headline their rotation that is much better than the mediocre Cardinals and Braves rotations.
Los Angeles also has a high-powered offense, led by probable NL MVP Cody Bellinger along with Justin Turner, Max Muncy, and A.J. Pollock.
The Nationals, on the other hand, have a three-headed monster rotation that includes Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin.
Juan Soto seems like he will be a future NL MVP candidate and All-Star for years to come while Anthony Rendon is headed for a huge payday at the end of October.
Whoever wins this matchup should have a rather easy time winning the NLCS series. The Braves don’t have a trustworthy bullpen, which has been exploited by the Chris Martin injury, and Mark Melancon‘s Game 1 struggle against the Cardinals on Thursday.
The Cardinals’ weakness, on the other hand, is their rotation is not very deep past Jack Flaherty. Flaherty has dominated the second half of the season but in the long best of 7 series against good lineups like Los Angeles and Washington, the rotation will likely be exploited.
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I don’t see how the winner of the Dodgers vs Nationals first-round matchup won’t advance to the Fall Classic.