What It Means:

The rest of the starters for the series have not been named, but it's no surprise to see the Nationals' ace get the nod to start the series against Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw.

Scherzer finished the 2016 regular season with a strong 2.96 ERA and 3.05 SIERA through 228 1/3 innings. He also posted a career-high 31.5 percent strikeout rate with a 6.2 percent walk rate that comes in slightly better than his career average.