Washington Nationals Must Stay Mad For Game 1 of the WS
By TC Zencka
When Should They Use Corbin?
Corbin should continue to be the guy most often used on his throw day, if only because either the Yankees or the Astros will have a big left-handed bat, and the Nats have limited neutralizing agents where left-handedness is concerned. Doolittle aside, Corbin is the closest thing to a lefty specialist available to Dave Martinez.
Roenis Elias could see an appearance in this World Series, but he’s a reverse-splits guy, and if he’s facing a lefty then something is amiss. Martinez used him repeatedly against lefties during the regular season, but postseason Davey has been a different animal.
From his careful use of pen arms, to utilizing his starters in relief, to sticking with Howie Kendrick in an everyday capacity, Martinez has shown the ability to zag from his regular season strategies in the postseason. Hopefully, that means Elias won’t be seeing a left-handed opponent at any point prior to spring 2020.
The Astros have made do without a lefty in the pen, but they have a host of righties with reverse-splits, whereas the Nats have Elias and Rainey, whom lefties rake against, their two stalwarts, a collection of righties with normal splits, and Voth, who was more than capable as a 5th starter during the season, but has yet to make an appearance in the playoffs. He did warm up once, so you know…he’s definitely out there.
Corbin is a lock to make an appearance out of the bullpen. The Astros ability to avoid strikeouts is the perfect strategy for putting together an inning like the Dodgers used to beat Corbin in game 3 of the NLDS, but Corbin put together quality relief outings after that, and they’ll have no choice but to rely on him in this capacity for the World Series.
How much they can rely on Corbin as a reliever depends on where they use him as a starter.
The natural order would be: (1) Scherzer, (2) Strasburg, (3) Corbin, (4) Sanchez, (5) Scherzer, (6) Strasburg, (7) Corbin. That order makes Sanchez available out of the pen for game 6 or 7, and it means Corbin’s relief possibilities would be game 1 and game 5. But in order to maximize Corbin as a reliever, there might be a better option.