The San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals are playing live on the NLDS MLB playoffs schedule on Friday afternoon and the game is live past 3 pm ET from Fox Sports 1 from Nationals Park as the two teams battle in the National League Division Series with Jake Peavy and Stephen Strasburg on the mound for Game 1 as the series starts.
The Giants come into the game after winning big over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card game and now they have a matchup with the best team in the National League. The Giants got a fantastic game from Madison Bumgarner in that matchup and now they have experienced pitcher Jake Peavy on the mound against Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals won the NL East and now Strasburg makes his playoff debut after he was held out of the postseason two years ago when the Nats made it.
The Nationals made it into the playoffs as the best team in the NL and now they have a strong bullpen and rotation carrying them. The team doesn't have one masher like Miguel Cabrera or Adam Jones, but they have as deep of a lineup as anyone and with their stellar rotation, they could be a World Series contender. The Giants come in with tons of experience after winning two World Series in three years and Bruce Bochy knows exactly what he wants to do with his team.
The Giants come in hot after winning eight straight playoff games and now after mashing against the Pirates, they will try and get things done against the Nats to steal game 1. The Nationals won their last game of the season with a no hitter against the Marlins and that was from Jordan Zimmerman and he will face off against Tim Hudson in Game 2 of the series. The first game has a solid matchup as well and the Nats come in as the ninth best team scoring runs this season.
The Giants ranked in the middle of the pack on offense this season and their pitching was top notch, while the Nationals were ranked high on both. Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez had the team in the top part of the league in Era and the Giants come in with their own ace in Madison Bumgarner, who pitched the team into the NLDS with a great wild card game. The Giants have been here before and the Nationals have come close the past couple years to making the playoffs and making it through to the next round and now both teams will be looking to win the battle of the NLDS.
Check here for the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals live coverage from MLB.
