NL Wild Card Schedule 2019: TV Schedule and Prediction for Brewers vs. Nationals

Baseball doesn't get much more difficult than facing Max Scherzer in a single-elimination scenario, but that is exactly what faces the Milwaukee Brewers.  

Milwaukee finished in second place in the National League Central and will face Scherzer and the Washington Nationals in Tuesday's NL Wild Card Game. Here is a look at the broadcast schedule and a prediction for the contest that will determine which team faces the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers in the next round.

NL Wild Card Game

Matchup: Milwaukee Brewers at Washington Nationals

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 1

Time: 8:08 p.m. ET

Television: TBS

Prediction

It is a testament to the Nationals' pitching depth that they have one of the best starters in recent history and, as recently as Wednesday, still weren't 100 percent sure who would take the mound in Tuesday's contest.

"We feel comfortable rolling any one of those guys out there," Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said on The Sports Junkies when discussing Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin (h/t Caroline Brandt of NBC Sports Washington). "It's a luxury that few teams have, and we're lucky enough to be able to run three, quality, number one type of starters out each and every time you play in the playoffs."

Having three starters who can be considered aces will help the Nationals match up with the Dodgers in the Division Series should they advance, which isn't something many teams can do considering Los Angeles features Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Hyun-Jin Ryu in its rotation.

The focus is solely on Milwaukee first, and Rizzo said there was some planning involved to make sure Scherzer would have the ball with the season on the line.

"I think Max is lined up for that Wild Card game, and that was done with a purpose," Rizzo said. "I think if everything goes the way we plan it, that's our strategy."

This prediction starts and stops with that strategy: The Nationals have Scherzer, and the Brewers do not.

The right-hander is in the middle of one of the most impressive stretches in baseball history, having finished in the top five of Cy Young voting during each of the last six years. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2013 on the Detroit Tigers and the National League Cy Young Award in 2016 and 2017 with Washington.

The seven-time All-Star is once again in the middle of the Cy Young race after finishing the regular season with a 2.92 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 243 strikeouts in 172.1 innings.

He will face a Brewers squad that deserves plenty of credit for reaching the postseason after Christian Yelich suffered a fractured right knee cap earlier this month. They passed the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race and were a mere one game back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central race entering the regular-season finale on Sunday.

St. Louis clinched the crown with Sunday's win over the Cubs, leaving the Brewers with the unfortunate task of facing Scherzer.

They won't have enough against the overpowering right-hander with Yelich sidelined, which will set the stage for a showdown between Washington and Los Angeles.

Prediction: Nationals 4, Brewers 2