Hopefully, Game 4 of the Nationals-Cubs NLDS takes place Tuesday afternoon. It's scheduled for 5:38 ET/4:38 Chicago time, but there's rain in the forecast pretty much throughout the day and night. If things do go off Tuesday, it's a do-or-die game for the Nationals, with the Cubs leading the best-of-five series, two games to one. For how to watch, we've got you covered here.
Now onto the lineups.
Visiting Nationals (1-2)
- Trea Turner, SS
- Jayson Werth, LF
- Bryce Harper, RF
- Ryan Zimmerman, 1B
- Daniel Murphy, 2B
- Anthony Rendon, 3B
- Matt Wieters, C
- Michael Taylor, CF
- Tanner Roark, RHP
Interesting shakeup here, with Dusty Baker electing to flip Murphy and Zimmerman, move Harper to third, Werth up to second and Rendon from third to sixth. It's similar to the construction he used earlier in the year that created some controversy with Rendon being so good and hitting sixth. The hunch is Baker figured he needed to do something with how anemic the offense has been throughout the entire series, save for one huge inning.
After getting Cy Young votes last season, Roark hasn't been very good this year, pitching to a 4.67 ERA. He had a 5.84 ERA in his last five outings, too. He did pitch well against the Cubs on Aug. 4, however, working 6 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs.
Home Cubs (2-1)
- Jon Jay, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Javier Baez, 2B
- Jake Arrieta, RHP
Looks like manager Joe Maddon isn't as worried about outfield defense here, going with weak corner defenders in lieu of playing Jason Heyward even against a righty. Though the Cubs won Game 3, Schwarber surely will be looking for some redemption after a brutal two-error play that could have cost the Cubs the game on Monday.
Arrieta was bothered by a hamstring injury down the stretch, but he says he's over it. We saw Max Scherzer pitch very well through a hammy issue in Game 3 on the other side, but that doesn't mean Arrieta's automatically OK, too. It's something to watch.