First two games of the series set for Washington D.C.

The defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs will have to start their title defense on the road this season, opening the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals on Friday night at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. (7:30 p.m. ET, TBS).

After winning 103 games in 2016, the Cubs struggled through the first half in 2017 and headed into the All-Star break under .500 at 43-45, trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by 5 1/2 games in the National League Central. Chicago turned things around in the pseudo-second half, finishing 49-25, the best record in the National League after the break.

But the Nationals were close behind at 45-29, and won 97 games this season, running away with a National League East division that they put to bed in April.

Max Scherzer is dealing with tightness in his right hamstring and was pushed back to later in the series, which means Stephen Strasburg gets the call to start Game 1 on Friday.

Strasburg was 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA in 28 starts this season, a tick behind Scherzer (2.51) for the team lead, with the duo finishing second and third in the National League in ERA. Down the stretch, Strasburg was fantastic, posting a 34-inning scoreless streak and an 0.86 ERA over his final 10 starts.

The Cubs will go with Kyle Hendricks in Game 1, followed by Jon Lester, Jose Quintana and Jake Arrieta, in that order, for Games 2-4. Hendricks allowed three runs in seven innings in a loss to the Nationals on Aug. 4 at Wrigley Field, his only start against them in 2017.

NLDS Game 1 time, TV and streaming info

• Teams: Cubs (92-70) at Nationals (97-65)
• Time: 7 p.m. ET
• First pitch: 7:31 p.m.
• Location: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
• TV: TBS
• Streaming: TBS.com and the Watch TBS app
• Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, Sam Ryan

Nationals vs. Cubs news & notes

Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber was sent to the minors for two weeks midseason, but since his return has hit .255/.338/.565 with 18 home runs in 65 games. From Tom Musick of the Chicago Sun-Times:

“Give the guy real high marks for perseverance,” Maddon said. “I think maybe my expectations that I portrayed early on were maybe a little bit too high and I should have considered maybe more that he did not play at all last year. When you talk about [him], you don’t even think about that. You just think about postseason.”

By this point, Schwarber’s early season struggles seem to be behind him.

“This is my favorite time of year,” Schwarber said. “This is when it brings out the best in everyone.”

The Nationals won their fourth division title in six years but are looking to get past the Division Series for the first time, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post:

“[Losing] just kind of sticks with you. It’s kind of traumatizing. It sucks,” Werth said. “ … But I don’t know, other than trying not to lose again, for me you realize you just got to get there.”

As the Nationals lost in the division series three times in five seasons, some wondered about whether their confidence had been undermined — if losing so early, so often, had traumatized them somehow. To a man, they will deny it. One year, they say, is too different from the next.

“I get tired of hearing about losing,” said Baker, who has never won a World Series in two decades of managing, despite agonizingly close calls. “I don’t think losing. I think winning. You know what I’m saying? Unless you get there, you have no chance of doing anything.”

How does Scherzer, Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez compare to the World Series-winning 1924 Washington Senators? Federal Baseball explores:

This year, the power trio – with apologies to the band Rush – features the National League’s second, third and fifth best pitchers in ERA: Max Scherzer (2.51), Stephen Strasburg (2.52) and Gio Gonzalez (2.96). Ninety-three years ago, Washington ace Walter Johnson led the American League with a 2.72 ERA. Teammate Tom Zachary (2.75) was second, and the team’s rookie swingman, Firpo Marberry, was sixth best at 3.09. (The Senators also featured a 16-game winner, George Mogridge, who posted a rather pedestrian 3.76 ERA). Scherzer and Johnson both led the league in strikeouts, but in a sign of how the game has changed, they finished more than 100 apart. Johnson fanned 158 in 1924; this year Scherzer struck out 268.