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An hour or so before the National League playoffs began, a scout with one of the participating teams wondered what the New York Mets had been thinking.

“Why’d they let Murphy go?” he asked, incredulously.

For the record, the scout does not work for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but don’t you think the Dodgers are asking themselves the same question? Why did the New York Mets let Daniel Murphy leave as a free agent, setting him free to torment the Dodgers for a second straight postseason?

And how did Murphy figure out how to hit left-handed pitching, something that remains an unsolved mystery to everyone in Dodgers blue?

This National League Division Series certainly took a left turn on the way to the left coast, with the left-handed hitting Murphy collecting three hits and driving in two runs as the Washington Nationals took Game 2 by a 5-2 score Sunday. They head into Game 3 on Monday in Los Angeles with the series tied at a win apiece, in part because Murphy is proving as big a Dodgers nemesis as a National as he was 12 months ago when he was a Met.

“Left on left, right on left, it really doesn’t matter for Murphy,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, admiringly, in his postgame press conference.

It matters to Roberts’ Dodgers, who are 1-for-14 in two games against the Nationals’ left-handed relievers, after hitting a major league low .213 against lefties this season.

It could matter greatly in this series, with the Nationals starting lefty Gio Gonzalez in a Game 3 that now becomes pivotal. If the Dodgers don’t find a way to survive a game against a lefty, they’re in danger of losing the series without getting a second start from Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers could also use an answer for Murphy, who has four hits in six at-bats in this series, after hitting three home runs (two off Kershaw, one off Zack Greinke) in last year’s Division Series.

Murphy hits left-handers and he hits right-handers, and while there’s no guarantee he would have helped the Mets against San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner in the Wild Card Game, his ability to hit good pitching makes him especially useful this time of year.

The Chicago Cubs, who watched him hit .529 with four home runs in four games in last year’s National League Championship Series, can’t be thrilled at the possibility of seeing him again on the same stage next week.

The Nationals have to get there first, and they’ve still got plenty of work to do to make it happen. As Roberts rightly pointed out, the Dodgers had opportunities to put Sunday’s game away early against Nationals starter Tanner Roark. They had 11 baserunners in 4.1 innings, but by scoring only two runs, they set up Nationals manager Dusty Baker to unleash his parade of three left-handed relievers.

Baker went to Marc Rzepczynski in the fifth, Sammy Solis (to replace Rzepczynski) in the sixth and Oliver Perez in the eighth. Roberts immediately went to his right-handed pinch hitters, but it didn’t help.

This is becoming a postseason dominated by bullpens, interrupted only occasionally by a starters’ duel between Bumgarner and Noah Syndergaard or Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto. The emphasis on relievers should suit the Dodgers, who lived on their bullpen all season.

The two bullpens in this series have already combined to pitch 15.1 innings, allowing just one run between them.

The guy who drove in that run? Murphy, of course. His two-out single off Grant Dayton in the seventh inning Sunday made the final two innings more comfortable.

After notching the Nationals’ first hit of the game in the second inning, Murphy worked a leadoff walk in the fourth-inning rally that ended with Jose Lobaton’s three-run home run. His second hit made it 4-2 Nationals and knocked starter Rich Hill from the game in the fifth inning, and his third hit added an insurance run to push the score to 5-2 in the seventh.

None of it should have been a surprise. Murphy was second in the major leagues with a .347 batting average and first in the National League with a .595 slugging percentage and a .985 OPS.

He has proved exactly what Mets hitting coach Kevin Long claimed last October. Long said Murphy’s great 2015 postseason wasn’t a fluke but rather a show of how he had improved as a hitter.

Too bad for the Mets that they didn’t believe it, or that they didn’t believe in Murphy enough to make him anything more than a qualifying offer last November. They moved on quickly by trying for Ben Zobrist and then moving to pick up Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Walker and Cabrera had fine seasons, but they’re home for the winter along with the rest of the Mets. Murphy, who eventually signed with the Nationals for three years and $37.5 million, is back in the Division Series, back tormenting the Dodgers and perhaps concerning the Cubs, too.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Game 3 of the American League Division Series between Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox has been postponed and will be played at 6:08 p.m. ET on Monday evening in Boston, according to Chris Assenheimer of the Chronicle-Telegram.

Cleveland holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. 

Cleveland’s three home runs in Game 1 paced the 5-4 win to open the series, while Corey Kluber’s seven shutout innings and Lonnie Chisenhall’s three-run homer led Cleveland to a 6-0 victory in Game 2.

While Cleveland has the Red Sox on the ropes, Josh Tomlin—the scheduled starter for Game 3—doesn’t want the team to grow complacent, according to what he told reporters in this clip from a recent press conference:

Certainly, the Red Sox aren’t about to concede anything.

“We have to win one game and go from there,” slugger David Ortiz told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. “We’re not done. We haven’t got in a rhythm yet. I think we will.”

Pitcher Clay Buchholz—who will start Game 3 for Boston—concurred:

It’s about you’re not out until the final out is made, and the only reason that we’re here is because of everybody and what they have done throughout this year. We have a potential couple MVP candidates, potential Cy Young candidate on this team. We’re a really good ball club and there’s no need to put added pressure or added stress on one game because of what could happen.

Boston’s offense is capable of slugging the team back into contention. The Red Sox led MLB in runs scored (878) and batting average (.282) this year, spurred by MVP candidates in Ortiz and Mookie Betts and excellent seasons from Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley Ramirez.

Once the rains cease, Boston will need that lineup to wake up Monday night and save the season after being stifled in Game 2. 

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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It’s now or never for the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers.

Both teams are down 0-2 in their respective playoff series against the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays, and they must come up with wins Sunday if they are to remain alive in the postseason.

While the Red Sox are at least back at Fenway Park for Game 3 (and Game 4, if necessary), the Rangers are on the road at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Texas at Toronto, 7:38 p.m. ET, Toronto leads 2-0

That’s clearly a difficult task for the Rangers, but it’s one that is not impossible to overcome. Just one year ago, these same two teams met in the ALDS, and the Rangers took a 2-0 lead by winning the first two games in Toronto. The Blue Jays went on the road for Games 3 and 4 and won both of those games before returning home for Game 5 and winning that as well.

If the Rangers are going to pay the Blue Jays back, it will start with getting a strong effort from starting pitcher Colby Lewis. The Rangers starters have been hit hard by Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki, and that has allowed the Blue Jays to earn early leads and play with confidence.

Lewis, who was 6-5 with a 3.71 earned run average and a 1.126 WHIP, will need to be at his best to keep the Toronto bats in check. 

Aaron Sanchez will be on the mound for the Blue Jays, and he had a sensational 15-2 season with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.167 WHIP. Sanchez was at his best in the regular-season finale when he shut down the Red Sox at Fenway Park, and that helped the Blue Jays earn their spot in the playoffs.

In addition to getting a top effort from Lewis, the Rangers will need the big hitters in their lineup to pick up their production. Rougned Odor and Adrian Beltre are the keys to the Texas attack, as those two combined for 65 home runs this season. Neither player has hit a home run in the first two games of the series.

None of their teammates have hit a home run, either. That needs to change in Game 3.

Prediction: The Rangers should be at their best in this elimination game. Look for them to stay close throughout, but Sanchez can be a shutdown pitcher, and he should get the job done here. He will give the Blue Jays eight strong innings, and Toronto sweeps the series with a 2-1 victory.

Cleveland at Boston, 4:08 p.m. ET, Cleveland leads 2-0

Clay Buchholz will get the ball for the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, and that’s quite a turnaround for a pitcher who was dropped from the rotation earlier this year.

However, when he got his second chance from manager John Farrell, Buchholz did a much better job in the final weeks of the season. Buchholz made a mechanical change to his delivery, as he decided to pitch from the stretch throughout the game.

After eliminating his windup, Buchholz became a much more effective pitcher. He was 3-0 in his final four starts with a 3.14 ERA and a 1.151 WHIP. Those numbers represent a significant improvement over his season-long numbers that included an 8-10 record with a 4.78 ERA.

Boston starters Rick Porcello and David Price were hit hard in Games 1 and 2, and the Red Sox need Buchholz to give them six solid innings.

They also need their hitters to pick it up after a disappointing performance in Cleveland. Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts, David Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. need to start hitting the ball well if the Red Sox are going to resemble the team that led the American League with 878 runs scored.

The Indians were the beneficiaries of clutch hitting and excellent pitching performances by reliever Andrew Miller in Game 1 and starter Corey Kluber in Game 2. They are sending Josh Tomlin to the mound at Fenway Park, and if manager Terry Francona can get five or six innings from him before turning the game over to the Indians bullpen, he should be happy.

Cleveland will look to sluggers Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana for offensive production. Both players hit 34 home runs this season and are capable of big games in Boston.

Prediction: The Indians will not fade away on the road, and they will get at least three runs off of Buchholz. However, the Red Sox offense will come alive, and they will hit Tomlin and the Cleveland pitching staff hard. The Red Sox get back in the series with an 8-4 victory.

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Dropped from the pitching rotation in July, Clay Buchholz holds the key to the Boston Red Sox postseason in his right arm.

Buchholz will take the mound in Game 3 Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park as the Red Sox try to stay alive in their American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians.

After dropping the first two games of the series at Progressive Field, the heavily favored Red Sox have put themselves in a position where they must win two games at Fenway Park to force a return trip to Cleveland if they are going to survive and advance in the postseason.

The Texas Rangers are in an even more precarious position. They also dropped the first two games of their series with the Toronto Blue Jays, but the Rangers dropped both of those games at home. They have to go to the Rogers Centre in Toronto and win two before they can return to Arlington, Texas, for a potential fifth game of the series.

Cleveland at Boston; Cleveland leads 2-0

The Red Sox need Buchholz to pitch with the same kind of confidence he showed in his most recent starts. Buchholz had a largely forgettable season, as he was 8-10 with a 4.78 earned run average and a 1.328 WHIP.

Buchholz had a hard time keeping the ball in the ballpark, and he was hit hard for much of the year. However, a tip from batting coach Chili Davis helped him turn things around later in the year. 

Davis let Buchholz know that he was much tougher to read when he was pitching from the stretch. It was harder to pick up the ball, and it wasn’t as easy to read his pitches.

Buchholz took Davis’ advice and started pitching exclusively from the stretch. While it did not turn him into a dominating flamethrower, Buchholz is 3-0 in the last 28 days, and his ERA is 3.14 with a WHIP of 1.151.

In years past, Buchholz was one of the Red Sox aces, but injuries regularly kept him from dominating for a full season. That was not the case this season, when he was hit hard for the majority of the year but has remained healthy.

If Buchholz has truly gotten his act together, he can help steady the Red Sox’s starting pitching, which was a major disappointment in the two games in Cleveland.

Boston’s hitters must also come through the way they did throughout the majority of the season. Boston scored a league-high 878 runs this season, but Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. did not swing the bat well in Cleveland.

It seems more likely that they will find their batting strokes at home.

The Indians don’t want to change a thing after winning the first two games of the series at home. Cleveland got clutch hitting in both games, and manager Terry Francona used his bullpen in spectacular fashion in Game 1 and got a brilliant start from Corey Kluber in Game 2.

Another bullpen game is likely in Game 3, because starter Josh Tomlin seems quite hittable. Tomlin had a 13-9 record during the regular season, but his 4.40 ERA demonstrates he will give up a few runs. His 1.190 WHIP is quite respectable, but the Red Sox’s big bats should be ready to do some damage.

That’s where reliever Andrew Miller should come into play. He is a powerful left-hander with tremendous stuff and an ability to throw one of the nastiest sliders around. If the Indians stay in touch on the scoreboard or even have a lead, Miller could be a huge difference-maker.

The Indians also need Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana to deliver some big hits at Fenway. Napoli—a former Red Sox slugger—and Santana both hit 34 home runs this season.

Keys for a Cleveland victory: Stay close through the first few innings, get Miller in the game to shut down the big bats and get clutch hits from Napoli and Santana.

Keys for a Boston victory: Take advantage of the home field and get the bats going the way they were throughout the majority of the regular season. Buchholz also must give the Red Sox six strong innings and depart with the lead.

Texas at Toronto; Toronto leads 2-0

It would seem that the Texas Rangers are hanging on by a thread. Even though the Rangers had the best record in the American League and earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason, they lost the first two games of the American League Division Series at home.

The situation might seem hopeless, but there’s this little piece of history to consider: The Rangers and the Blue Jays met in last year’s ALDS, and the Rangers won the first two games at the Rogers Centre and took a 2-0 lead home. However, the Blue Jays bounced back with with two road wins of their own and then took the decisive game on their home field.

Can the Rangers pay the Blue Jays back? If they are going to do that, they are going to need pitcher Colby Lewis to have a standout game.

Lewis had a 6-5 record and a 3.71 ERA, and he is going to need to cool down the Blue Jays’ hot hitters. At the same time, the Rangers are going to have to shake their inconsistencies at the plate and find a way to get to Aaron Sanchez, who was 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA.

Sanchez was dominant for the Blue Jays Oct. 2 when Toronto clinched its playoff appearance with a win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Toronto jumped all over the Texas pitching in the first two games of the series, and it’s clear that the Rangers will need improved starting pitching to slow down hitters like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki.

At the same time, the Rangers need their big hitters like Rougned Odor, Adrian Beltre, Ian Desmond and Mitch Moreland to suddenly get hot.

A complete reversal of what happened at Globe Life Park is what the script requires. If it doesn’t, the Blue Jays should finish this series in three games.

Keys for a Texas victory: An excellent starting pitching effort from Lewis, with clutch hitting from big hitters like Odor and Beltre.

Keys for a Toronto victory: Stay hot with the bats and continue to get big hits with runners on base. If Sanchez can throw the same type of game he did against Boston last week, the Jays should be ready to advance to the ALCS.

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The American League Division Series could reach a rapid conclusion Sunday with the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers already facing elimination after dropping the first two games against the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays, respectively.

Boston and Texas don’t have to look back too far for a source of optimism, though. Just last year, the Blue Jays fought back from a 2-0 hole to stun the Rangers in the ALDS. Surely that provides some added motivation for Jeff Banister’s group to flip the script this time around.

Let’s check out all of the important details for Sunday’s slate, including viewing information and odds for both matchups. That’s followed by game previews and predictions.

Sunday’s MLB Playoff Schedule

Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox (2-0 CLE)

The Red Sox wanted to give David Ortiz a storybook ending to his career, but that’s not going to happen unless the team’s starting pitching improves in a hurry. Rick Porcello gave up five earned runs in 4.1 innings in Game 1, and David Price allowed the same number of runs in 3.1 innings in Game 2.

Now they turn to Clay Buchholz to save their playoff hopes. He finished the regular season with a lackluster 4.78 ERA, but it’s worth noting he pitched much better after the All-Star break. His ERA was 5.91 in the first half and 3.22 in the second half.

Preventing the Indians from building another early lead is essential. Beyond that, longtime Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia believes the team has simply gotten away from playing its brand of baseball so far, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

“I think we’ve kind of lost who we are,” Pedroia said. “We’re the Boston Red Sox. We need to go out there and play the game. We should dictate the tempo of the game and how everything should be played.”

Meanwhile, what the Indians have been able to accomplish with injuries to starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar is astonishing. But now their rotation depth will get tested as they trot out Josh Tomlin to face the league’s highest-scoring offense.

John Buccigross of ESPN commented on the Indians’ ability to attack the potent Boston lineup:

Ultimately, the lack of reliability from the Red Sox starting staff makes it difficult to envision a path where they win three straight games. But the offense is too strong to go down with a whimper, so they should slug their way to a Game 3 victory to stay alive.

Prediction: 7-5 Red Sox

Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays (2-0 TOR)

The Blue Jays faded down the stretch of the regular season, looking nothing like a team capable of making a World Series run. But when there’s a roster with that much talent, especially offensively, sometimes all it takes is one spark to turn things completely around.

It seems that’s exactly what’s happened with Toronto after it survived an 11-inning battle with the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card Round. The team’s bats have returned to form, pounding out 15 runs over the first two games against Texas.

SportsCenter highlighted the odds for teams in the Jays’ current spot:

The Rangers must do a much better job in clutch situations if they want to get back in the series. They threatened in each of the final three innings of Game 2 but came away with just two runs in those frames and three runs for the game. In all, they left 13 men on base.

But Texas does have the added motivation of the Jays’ aforementioned comeback in this round last year to lean on. Third baseman Adrian Beltre admitted it’s something on the team’s collective mind as it heads north of the border for Game 3, per T.R. Sullivan and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.

“We have to win,” Beltre said. “There’s no tomorrow. Not only that, we’re trying to do what they did to us last year. Hopefully we can turn it around and do the same thing they did to us last year. We know we can do it. We just need to get it done in the field. There’s no doubt we believe in this team.”

Alas, the pitching matchup favors Toronto. Aaron Sanchez, who went 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA for the Jays during the regular season, will take on Colby Lewis. The Rangers’ starter gave up 19 homers in 19 starts, which isn’t a hopeful sign as he prepares to face a power-filled lineup.

Prediction: 5-4 Blue Jays

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Game 2 of the National League Division Series may not have gone as planned for the Chicago Cubs, but they earned a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants and took a commanding 2-0 series lead Saturday at Wrigley Field. 

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks caused mass panic in Chicago when he exited in the top of the fourth inning after taking a line drive to his right (pitching) arm off the bat of Angel Pagan. 

Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reported Hendricks left with a right forearm contusion and was being evaluated. He led Major League Baseball with a 2.13 ERA and finished second with a 0.98 WHIP during the regular season. 

The Cubs could have an issue if Hendricks has to miss a start, though the good news is the team announced his X-rays came back negative.

Jon Lester was brilliant with eight scoreless innings in Game 1, but Game 3 starter Jake Arrieta struggled with a 3.69 ERA in the second half. Expected Game 4 starter John Lackey had a 2.76 ERA in the second half, though he only started 11 games due to injuries. 

Prior to leaving, Hendricks was having an outing to remember in an unexpected way with this two-run single in the second inning, as MLB Network showed:

Travis Wood relieved Hendricks with two outs in the fourth inning, and he struck out Conor Gillaspie to end the top half of the frame. Wood came up to bat in the bottom half of the inning and proceeded to hit a homer deep into the left field bleachers. 

Per ESPN’s Jayson Stark, home runs for relief pitchers in the postseason have become extremely rare:

Per Muskat, it hasn’t been quite as long since the Cubs have had a pitcher—starter or reliever—hit a home run in a playoff game:

At that point, Cubs pitchers accounted for three of the team’s five RBI.

The Giants were in a huge hole early because Jeff Samardzija’s first career playoff start did not go well for San Francisco. He gave up four runs in the first two innings and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the third. 

Per ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon, Samardzija’s two-inning start marked the shortest of his MLB career. Stark noted the Shark struggled against winning teams in 2016:

Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, going into a 4-0 hole against Hendricks has not been a recipe for success in 2016:

Regardless of who is pitching, getting a four-run lead has been virtually an automatic win for the Cubs this season, per Baseball Tonight:

Before Hendricks was forced out, the Giants chipped away at the lead thanks to Gregor Blanco’s RBI double, which scored Joe Panik, and Brandon Belt’s sacrifice fly, which scored Blanco to make it 4-2. 

The bad news for the Giants is that was all their offense could muster.

Wood, Carl Edwards Jr., Mike Montgomery, Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman combined for 5.1 scoreless innings in which they allowed just two hits with no walks and six strikeouts. 

Another problem facing the Giants as they head back home for Game 3 on Monday is they aren’t taking advantage of holding the heart of Chicago’s lineup (Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell) to a combined 1-for-21 in the first two games. 

There is one bright spot for San Francisco even with this hole to climb out of: Madison Bumgarner. The Giants ace will take the mound at home, trying to keep his team alive. 

In case you haven’t heard, Bumgarner is pretty good in these do-or-die situations. His last run allowed in the playoffs was a solo homer by Salvador Perez the seventh inning of Game 1 of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals. 

Bumgarner has gone 23 straight scoreless innings in the postseason since, including a complete-game shutout against the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card Game on Wednesday. 

The Cubs have looked every bit the best team in baseball they were during the regular season through two games. They got great pitching in Game 1 from Lester, and the offense came to life early in Game 2 before the bullpen took over. 

Even though the even-year magic may have helped carry the Giants this far, even with Bumgarner going Monday, they will need a lot of help to bring this series back to Chicago for a potential Game 5. 

Postgame Reaction

After the game, Hendricks’ arm was one of the biggest discussion points. He seemed optimistic about this being a short-term issue, per Muskat and Chris Haft of MLB.com:

When it first hit me, I didn’t really feel it in the moment. I just tried to recover and make the play. Once I started throwing off the mound, it just started tightening up on me. The X-rays were negative though, so hopefully it’s just a day-to-day thing. I’ll see how I feel over the next couple days.

From one difficult moment to another, Giants manager Bruce Bochy is using his team’s recent history of October success as a motivating factor going back home.

“It’s tough to lose two here, but it’s a case that we have been down this road before,” Bochy said, per Muskat and Haft. “It’s never easy with us, so we’re hoping to get one here, but now we go home and you keep fighting. That’s all you can do.”

There isn’t any way to sugarcoat where things stand for the Giants. All they can do is hope history is able to repeat itself starting Monday. 

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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks left Saturday’s National League Division Series game against the San Francisco Giants after taking a line drive off his arm.

Continue for updates.

Latest Details on Hendricks’ Injury

Saturday, Oct. 8

X-rays on Hendricks’ arm were negative, per Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.

Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times reported the pitcher has a bruised arm.

Hendricks Tried to Stay in Game

Saturday, Oct. 8

Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Cubs manager Joe Maddon removed Hendricks after the right-hander tried to talk his manager into leaving him in.

Former Cubs outfielder Angel Pagan hit the liner off an 80 mph changeup from Hendricks, and it appeared to strike his forearm. Hendricks threw a few warm-up pitches, hoping to remain in the game, before Maddon made the decision to bring Travis Wood in from the bullpen.

Hendricks’ Surprise Breakout Season Gives Cubs Dominant Rotation

Hendricks is enjoying a breakout season for Chicago that’s left him among the league leaders in every major pitching category, including ERA (2.13) and ERA+ (188), per Baseball-Reference.com. It makes the prospect of an injury setback even more concerning as the team gears up for a potentially deep postseason run.

The 26-year-old has remained durable during the early stages of his major league career. He made 32 starts last season, his first full year in the big leagues, and has been a constant cog in Chicago’s rotation throughout 2016.

The Cubs still boast depth in their starting rotation for the postseason with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. Hendricks is a clear difference-maker after his breakout season, and it would be a huge loss if he has to miss extended time.

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The Washington Nationals may be allergic to their own home stadium in the postseason.

It seems that way after they dropped the opening game of their National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nats were on the wrong end of a 4-3 decision, as they were unable to push across the tying run after closing a four-run deficit to one run in the fourth inning.

In the other National League series, the Chicago Cubs are attempting to build off their series-opening 1-0 win over the San Francisco Giants as they send ace Kyle Hendricks to the mound against former Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija in Game 2.

The Nationals have a 1-4 record at home in three different postseason series since the franchise relocated from Montreal following the 2004 season. They have to find a way to reverse that in order to avoid going down 0-2 prior to playing Game 3 in Los Angeles.

How? They need to jump out to a lead in the first few innings so they don’t have to rally back against the powerful Los Angeles bullpen.

Kenley Jansen is one of the best closers in the game, and he is that unit’s headliner, but the Dodgers have the weapons in the pen to hold onto a lead at any point once they get past the five-inning mark.

That will require some productive at-bats from Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy. The Nats did not get an RBI from any of those three players in Game 1, and that has to change in Game 2 and beyond.

The Dodgers received early home runs from rookie phenom Corey Seager and Justin Turner, and that gave Clayton Kershaw an early lead. Since the Dodgers were able to solve flamethrower Max Scherzer, they should be confident against Saturday’s starting pitcher, Tanner Roark.

Scherzer blamed himself for allowing those home runs. 

“It’s pitch execution,” he told Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. “I’m accountable for that, and I’ll shoulder that, and I’ll take the blame for that. I know I’m capable of executing pitches at a higher level, and I’ve got to do it.”

The Dodgers will have tricky left-hander Rich Hill on the mound, and while his pitches often look hittable, he can be difficult to decipher. 

Roark went 16-10 this season with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.171 WHIP. The 36-year-old Hill pitched 34.1 innings this season for the Dodgers after coming over from the Oakland A’s, and he had a 1.83 ERA and a 0.786 WHIP in that span.

Prediction: The Nationals need this game and have the steady Roark on the mound. However, they are pressing and won’t be able to do much against Hill. Look for the Dodgers to squeak out a 2-1 victory and take a 2-0 lead to Los Angeles.

San Francisco at Chicago

Javier Baez’s eighth-inning home run was enough to give Jon Lester and the Cubs a 1-0 victory over Johnny Cueto and the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS opener at Wrigley Field.

“That’s classic playoff baseball in the National League right there,” catcher David Ross told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. “There was going to be good pitching; we knew that coming in. That’s a really good team.”

Look for more hitting from the Cubs in Game 2 against Samardzija, who does not have the same kind of command that Cueto or Madison Bumgarner has for the Giants.

Samardzija went 12-11 with a 3.81 ERA, but the Cubs should be able to solve him. Expect NL MVP candidate Kris Bryant and slugging first baseman Anthony Rizzo to join Baez by contributing on offense.

On the other hand, the Giants will not have an easy time against the overachieving Hendricks. He led baseball with a 2.13 ERA this season and features three different changeups that can be rough on hitters.

The Giants don’t have a home run-hitting lineup, as Brandon Belt led the team with 17 dingers. If they are going to rally, they will need to string hits together, but that doesn’t often happen against Hendricks.

Prediction: After facing Cueto in Game 1, the Cubs are going to find their hitting stroke against Samardzija. The former Cubs pitcher is unlikely to be as sharp as his counterpart, and the Cubs will take advantage of his mistakes.

Even if the wind is blowing the other way, the Cubs will find the seats and come away with a 5-3 victory and a 2-0 lead in the series.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers came away with a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of their National League Division Series matchup, and the two teams are back at it on Saturday.

Corey Seager and Justin Turner both homered for the Dodgers in Game 1, while closer Kenley Jansen struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings to slam the door for the save.

Rich Hill (12-5, 2.12 ERA, 129 K) gets the start for the Dodgers, and he’ll be opposed by Tanner Roark (16-10, 2.83 ERA, 172 K), who quietly put together a terrific season of his own.

First pitch from Nationals Park is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET, and the game can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Who will come out on top in Game 2 of this exciting NLDS matchup?

Keep it right here for live updates on all of today’s action.

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In a best-of-five series, teams that lose the first game find themselves on high alert.

There is little margin for error, and especially in the case of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants, there is plenty of work to do.

Los Angeles at Washington, Game 2 (Los Angeles leads series 1-0)

Homestanding Washington dropped Game 1 of its National League Division Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the contest was expected to be a razor-sharp pitcher’s duel between Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Max Scherzer of the Nationals, neither starter was on top of his game.

The Dodgers took a 4-0 lead in the third inning, but the Nats had closed to within 4-3 by the bottom of the fourth. That’s how the game ended, as the bullpens did not yield any runs.

The Los Angeles bullpen was one of the team’s greatest strengths all year. Dodgers relievers led the majors with a 3.35 ERA (Washington was second with a 3.37 ERA), and manager Dave Roberts used his relief pitchers in an MLB-high 590.2 innings.

Kenley Jansen is one of the best closers in the game, and he was called on with five outs to go in Game 1. While that was a departure from his usual three-out save, Jansen got the job done, allowing just one hit and striking out three.

During the regular season, Jansen recorded 47 saves in 53 chances, a 1.83 ERA and a remarkable 0.67 WHIP.

Los Angeles also has Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton and Pedro Baez, all of whom were superb in Game 1.

“Whatever we’ve got to do to win, right? Those guys are up to the challenge,” Dodgers rookie shortstop Corey Seager said, per the Associated Press’ Howard Fendrich. “And they’ve been up to it all year.”

Therein lies the key for the Dodgers: Get the lead by the fifth or sixth inning and turn the game over to the bullpen.

On the other hand, if the Nationals can take an early lead, that will remove quite a bit of the pressure that Dusty Baker’s team will have on its shoulders throughout Game 2.

Washington needs to have its big hitters come through. Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy filled the second, third and fourth spots in the Nationals’ batting order Friday, but none of them drove in a run in Game 1.

That has to change if the Nationals are going to tie the series before the two teams head to Los Angeles.

Key for Los Angeles: Get a lead, and get the ball to the bullpen.

Key for Washington: Get run production from Harper, Werth and Murphy.

San Francisco at Chicago, Game 2 (Chicago leads series 1-0)

While the Nationals fell short on their home field in Game 1, the Chicago Cubs did not.

They won a tight, emotional pitcher’s duel 1-0 thanks to Javier Baez’s home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, which ruined a sensational effort by San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto.

“He’s been pitching me inside. I was just waiting for him to make a mistake, and he left it over the plate,” Baez said, per the Associated Press (via the Los Angeles Times).

Chicago starter Jon Lester earned the win, and fireballing closer Aroldis Chapman picked up the save.

Game 2 figures to feature more hitting—for one team, at least. Former Cub Jeff Samardzija will start for the Giants, while Cy Young Award candidate Kyle Hendricks will take the mound for the North Siders.

Samardzija was 12-11 this season with an unremarkable 3.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, and he gave up 8.4 hits and 1.1 home runs per nine innings. It would not be a surprise if Chicago—after facing the dominating stuff of Cueto in Game 1—got its offense going against “Shark.”

Look for Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo to take good swings against Samardzija and put at least five runs on the board.

San Francisco, which ranked 28th in the majors with only 130 home runs during the regular season, may have a hard time against the sensational Hendricks. The right-hander had a 16-8 record with an MLB-best 2.13 ERA and 0.98 WHIP and features two different changeups. While his pitches—including an 87.8 mph fastball—often look hittable, opposing batters just can’t figure him out.

Hendricks may not be a hard thrower, but he still struck out 170 hitters in 190 innings this season.

The Giants need to play their best game to get a split at Wrigley Field. The lineup has to figure out Hendricks, and Samardzija and the bullpen must be on point.

Key for San Francisco: Play near-perfect baseball.

Key for Chicago: Hit Samardzija hard.

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