Stephen Strasburg Starts Game 4 vs. Cubs After All
After a confusing 24 hours of probable pitcher news from the Nationals camp, Stephen Strasburg will make a Game 4 start on Wednesday afternoon.
Game 4 was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but rain in Chicago led the game to be postponed one day. There was some surprise when Nationals manager Dusty Baker revealed that Tanner Roark was likely to start Wednesday instead of Strasburg, who was apparently feeling ill and declined the opportunity to start on four days’ rest.
There was added confusion when Baker said that Strasburg threw a bullpen Tuesday which would have rendered him unable to pitch on Wednesday, but the team later said Baker misspoke and that Strasburg threw the session on Monday. Baker hypothesized that the cause of the sudden sicknesses were the change of weather, air conditioning in the hotel and/or mold in the city of Chicago.
After all that, it appears Strasburg will face Jake Arrieta in an elimination scenario for Washington, down 2–1 at Wrigley Field. He started Game 1 of the series, allowing just three hits and one run in seven innings.
Game 4 begins at 4:08 p.m. ET.
