The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the final day of the season tied for the National League West lead, meaning they need a bit of help to clinch the division title on Sunday.
For a while, it looked like the Washington Nationals might be able to provide that help. They had ace Max Scherzer slated to start the final game of the season at Colorado. On Saturday, however, the Nationals announced that Erick Fedde would start instead, citing Scherzer’s workload and the fact that both Colorado and Los Angeles had already clinched playoff spots.
According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, that decision went down very badly with the Dodgers.
Dodgers are gonna say all the right things, but privately they are none too pleased with the Nats and the decision not to pitch Scherzer. I even had Dodger people praising the Giants and MadBum for playing this last series out hard.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) September 30, 2018
The Giants moved Madison Bumgarner back just to start against the Dodgers on Friday, despite the fact that the series is completely meaningless to them. Though both the Rockies and Dodgers have clinched playoff spots, there’s a world of difference between winning the division and being relegated to a one-game playoff. The Nationals are well within their rights to decide how they want to use their ace pitcher, but you can’t blame the Dodgers for being angry.
