First pitch: Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Washington +110, St. Louis -120, Total: 6.5

The Nationals look to keep their slim playoff chances alive when they face an elite Cardinals team on Wednesday.

Washington was unable to win the first game of this series, losing 8-5 in St. Louis and the defeat puts them at just one game over .500 on the season. The Nats have fallen 6.5 games behind the division-leading New York Mets and will need to start winning games at a remarkable clip if they are going to sneak their way into the playoffs. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have won four straight games and nine of their past 10 as well. St. Louis is six games ahead of the Pirates in the highly competitive NL Central and will look to improve to 8-0 at Busch Stadium against the Nationals since 2013. This game is going to feature some serious heavyweights on the mound, as RHP Max Scherzer (11-11, 2.88 ERA, 209 K) will take the mound for the Nationals and he’ll face RHP Michael Wacha (15-4, 2.69 ERA, 134 K) of the Cardinals. Washington is 16-6 against the money line in road games when playing on a Wednesday over the past two seasons. St. Louis, however, is an incredible 71-27 against the money line as a favorite of -110 or higher this season. OF Denard Span (Hip), 1B Tyler Moore (Ankle) and 2B Dan Uggla (Back) are on the DL for the Nationals and the Cardinals will continue to play without OFs Randal Grichuk (Elbow), Matt Holliday (Quad) and Jon Jay (Wrist).

The Nationals had huge expectations for this season, but have really underperformed and now find themselves in a position where it’ll be nearly impossible to make it to the playoffs. Part of the reason this team was so confident was due to the signing of Max Scherzer, and he has really struggled recently after a hot start to the year. The Washington ace has allowed 13 earned runs over his past 16.0 innings of work and he’s allowed 7.0 hits per game over his past three starts. He’ll need to turn things around if the Nationals are going to find a way to defeat the Cardinals on Wednesday. He pitched seven innings and allowed just two earned runs in his only start against St. Louis this year, but Washington lost that game 4-1. The Nationals have had a lot of trouble hitting Michael Wacha in the past and guys like OF Bryce Harper (.333, 31 HR, 78 RBI), 3B Anthony Rendon (.268, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and 1B Ryan Zimmerman (.231, 14 HR, 64 RBI) will need to step it up on Wednesday. They are a combined 4-for-21 against Wacha with a single homer and RBI, which came from Rendon. Zimmerman has been hot lately, though, homering in two straight games and five of the past 10.

The Cardinals have been the best team in baseball all season and they have stayed hot recently. St. Louis has won nine of its past 10 games and should be feeling extremely confident with Michael Wacha heading to the mound on Wednesday. He’s been on fire as of late, allowing just four earned runs over his past six starts (39.0 IP). The last time Wacha faced this Nationals team, he outdueled Scherzer with seven innings of one-run ball. He struck out six batters in that game and will look to to stifle Washington’s hitters once again in this one. Some of the guys that will be counted on to produce at the plate in this game are OFs Jason Heyward (.290, 11 HR, 50 RBI), Stephen Piscotty (.338, 4 HR, 24 RBI) and Brandon Moss (.220, 18 HR, 57 RBI). Heyward is 2-for-3 in his career against Scherzer and has seven hits with four RBI over the past four games. Piscotty has never faced Scherzer, but the 24-year-old enters this contest on a nine-game hitting streak, racking up two homers and 11 RBI in that time. Moss, meanwhile, is the only player who has hit a homer off of Scherzer in this lineup.