Cubs beat Nationals, 9-8, to set up NLCS rematch with Dodgers
WASHINGTON - Maxwell M. Scherzer would deliver. He would strangle the enemy, slay the curse, vanquish the evil spirits of Octobers past.
The bullpen gate swung open, and the conqueror ran onto the field at Nationals Park, serenaded by a joyous ovation. If the mighty Scherzer could not pitch the Nationals out of the first round of the playoffs for once in the life of this franchise, who could?
Maybe no one.
The Nationals deployed the presumptive National League Cy Young award winner in relief, and seldom has a move backfired in such an utterly bizarre fashion. On an evening packed with the weird and the dubious, Scherzer pitched an inning
