WASHINGTON — Stephen Strasburg never has thrown this many innings or this many pitches in a season during his 10-year major league career.
He’s also never taken the mound with nearly as much at stake as there will be this time.
When Strasburg starts Game 6 of the World Series for the Washington Nationals against Justin Verlander and the Astros on Tuesday night in Houston, he either will have a chance to clinch a championship — or a must-win attempt to extend the Fall Classic.
"Yeah, it’s definitely uncharted territory," Strasburg said Sunday before Washington hosted Game 5 with the Series even at 2-all. "And I’m just trying to continue to do what I’ve tried to do all year, (which) is just take it one day at a time and just listen to the body."
Strasburg said there was never any consideration to pushing up his start to Sunday to fill in for three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, who was scratched hours before the first pitch because of an irritated nerve in his neck.
Instead, Joe Ross went up against Gerrit Cole in Game 5.
Strasburg vs. Verlander is a rematch from Game 2, which the Nationals won 12-3 as each starter lasted six innings. Strasburg gave up two runs in his stint; Verlander allowed four runs before Houston’s bullpen let it become a rout.
Memorably shut down for the 2012 playoffs to protect his surgically repaired right elbow, Strasburg has a lengthy history of health issues. That includes no fewer than a dozen trips to the injured list, with two per year in 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
But not a single such stay in 2019, when he made 33 starts and led the NL with 209 innings in the regular season while going 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 251 strikeouts. Add in his post-season innings, and his full-year total is 237, 17 more than in 2014.
His pitch total of 3,839, including October, also is a career high, as are his 17 outings of at least 100 pitches each, going 105, 117 and 114 over his last three games.
"I think mechanically, I’ve been able to be a little bit more consistent when I go out there and pitch. Just made some minor tweaks in the off-season training program. I kind of put more emphasis on just strength, not so much endurance, and trying to get my weight up," said the 31-year-old Strasburg, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft. "And I was able to kind of ride that throughout the year."
This post-season, he’s truly been at his best, frequently relying on more on a seemingly unhittable changeup or a right-where-he-wants it curveball as out pitches, rather than the high-90s mph fastball he thrived with in earlier times.
Strasburg enters Tuesday with a 4-0 record, 1.82 ERA, 40 strikeouts and just two walks in five appearances, four as a starter.
Verlander has not pitched up to the high standards he established while winning 225 games, collecting 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP honours and earning eight All-Star selections. After going 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300 Ks during the regular season, this is what he’s done in five post-season starts: 1-3, 4.15 ERA, 35 strikeouts, 11 walks.
Another stat he’d love to change Tuesday: Verlander is the only pitcher in major league history to have an 0-5 record in the World Series.
Five days after losing to Washington, he’ll get another shot at them.
"Once they’ve seen you three, four at-bats, it’s a little bit easier for them to make adjustments," Verlander said. "And having seen your off-speed stuff and tracked it, you just need to execute a little bit better."
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