The Washington Nationals send struggling ace Max Scherzer to the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals — the team with the best record in baseball — Wednesday night and fans can watch the game live online to catch what promises to be a tense pitcher’s duel. St. Louis counters with its own ace in 23-year-old Michael Wacha.
In just his third year, Wacha makes a salary barely more than Major League minimum — $520,000. And yet his performance in 2015 has been arguably even better than the season compiled by the 31-year-old Scherzer who will collect over $17.1 million in 2015 on the first year of his astonishing seven-year, $210 million deal with which Washington lured him from the Detroit Tigers as a free agent after the 2014 season.
Scherzer has mostly lived up to his billing this year, with a 2.88 ERA and 209 strikeouts against just 26 walks in 178 innings pitched this year. But he has shown signs of fatigue in August, dropping three starts in a row, coughing up 13 runs in 16 innings.
To find out how to watch the Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday Night game live online, see the streaming info in the final paragraph of this article. First pitch of the final game of the three-game mid-week set between the two teams is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time (7:15 p.m. Central, 5:15 Pacific) at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.
St. Louis took both the opener and middle frame of the series, and now it falls to the scuffling Scherzer to prevent a sweep as the Nats sit 6-and-a-half games behind the New York Mets in the National League East — an 11-game drop in the standings since July 5 when Washington lefd the Mets by 4-and-a-half.
Wacha presents a tough assignment for Scherzer and the Nationals, unfortunately for fans in the nation’s capital. The youngster has now won six of his last eight decisions, including his last four in a row.
To watch the Wednesday Night Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals game live online, use the stream provided by WatchESPN at this link , or download the WatchESPN app to watch the game on mobile devices. Fans who do not have credentials to log in to WatchESPN can watch the game via the Sling TV internet TV package at this link . The package, which includes a variety of channels, including ESPN, costs $20 per month. But Sling TV offers a seven-day free trial, so subscribers can choose whether or not to keep the service after watching the Nationals vs. Cardinals game live online.
[Image: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images]
