So far, the 2019 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers has been pretty comfortable.
They took over first place in the NL West in May and haven’t looked back since, cruising to a seventh consecutive division title by winning a National League-best 106 games. They finished the year a full 21 games ahead of the second place Arizona Diamondbacks. But tonight, the mood inside the Dodgers clubhouse at Chavez Ravine will be decidedly less comfortable, as the future of their season and the hopes of an entire city of baseball fans rest on the outcome of tonight’s game against the Washington Nationals at home.
The two clubs have been trading blows all series, with the Dodgers winning Games 1 and 3 and the Nats winning Games 2 and 4. Now, tied at two games apiece, the Dodgers and Nats will throw everything and the kitchen sink at winning a decisive Game 5 tonight. Game 1 starter Walker Buehler will take the mound for Los Angeles while the Nationals send Game 2 starter Stephen Strasburg to the bump. The winner will head to the National League Championship Series to take on either the Atlanta Braves or the St. Louis Cardinals, who are also tied at two games apiece in their Division Series and who also play Game 5 on Wednesday.
Today on AirTalk, we’ll reconvene KPCC’s “Triple Play” of Larry Mantle, A Martinez and Nick Roman to preview Game 5 tonight at Dodger Stadium, recap how the series got to this point and find out what they think the Dodgers need to do to reach their fourth straight NLCS.
Guests:
Nick Roman, host of “All Things Considered”; he tweets @RomanOnTheRadio
A Martinez, host of KPCC’s “Take Two”; he tweets @amartinezla