St. Louis' chances in this series. They appear to be in slightly better shape going into the series, especially with their starting pitching. Rosters and starters for Games 1 and 2 haven't been announced yet, but you can pretty much predict who the teams will be forced to pitch. The Cards have some flexibility that the Nats don't have, but their rotation is also set with a few exceptions.

Here's how I see it lining up

Game 1: Mikoles (on 8 days rest) vs. Sanchez (on 5 days rest). Both Mikoles & Sanchez have a sub 2.00 ERA in the NLDS, and pitched better in the playoffs than they did during the regular season. This game lacks the star power and name brand names on the mound, but should be a tough, gritty, game for both teams and is probably a tossup that could go either way.

Game 2: Wainwright (on 6 days rest) vs. Scherzer (on 5 days rest). Games 2 and 3 will get big billing due to the starting pitching. Scherzer pitched against the Cards twice during the regular season, but Washington lost both of those games, with Scherzer posting a 5.27 ERA in those games. Wainwright also started 2 games vs. the Nats during the regular season and won both of his starts posting a 1.35 ERA. Scherzer had a good division series with a 2.77 ERA pitching out of the bullpen and getting 1 start. Wainwright only had the one start (8 scoreless innings). Scherzer was sore and complaining about arm pain after game 4 and would be working on normal rest. Wainwright will be working on an extra day's rest. The extra day's rest for Wainwright and the fact that the Cards hit well off Scherzer during the regular season means I like the Cards chances in this game.

Game 3: This should be another big name game for starting pitching with Flaherty going up against Strasburg. Both would be working on normal 5 day rest. Flaherty didn't pitch against the Nats during the regular season. Strasburg had 2 starts against the Cards and posted a 2.31 ERA. This should be a classic, low scoring, pitching matchup game. With the series moving to Washington, I'd probably give the Nats the edge in this game.

Game 4: The Cards have a lot of options here. They could pitch Dakota Hudson, who would be working on 8 days rest. Or they could use Wacha, who's ready to come back off the DL. Both of them would be very rested. The Nat's only option here would be to pitch Corbin (who started game 1 of the NLDS and pitched out of the bullpen in games 3 and 5) or pitch Sanchez on short rest. My guess is they go with Corbin and set up Sanchez/Scherzer/Strasburg for games 5/6/7 all on normal rest. My guess is the Cards go with Hudson. He had a 2.08 ERA against the Nats in 2 starts during the regular season and a 1.93 playoff ERA. He pitches better at Busch than on the road though, and with this game in Washington means we might see Wacha get the start. Wacha pitched 5 innings vs. Washington in the regular season and gave up 3 runs (5.40 ERA). This is a game that could go either way. Sanchez had the same stat line as Wacha (5 IP, 3 ER) during his one start vs. the Cards back in May. The pitchers both teams have available for this game all have the ability to self-destruct, and I see this as a game that has real probability to be very high scoring. A high scoring game probably plays in the favor of Washington.

Game 5/6/7 should have the same pitching matchups as games 1/2/3. Game 5 and 7 starters would be working on normal rest, while the game 6 starters (the old dogs in Scherzer and Wainwright) would have an extra day's rest.