Giants advance to face Nats in NLDS

By Dan Kolko

Nationals

October 01, 2014, 7:05pm

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The Nationals' opponent in the National League Division Series is finally set. It'll be the Giants coming to D.C. to face Matt Williams' ballclub.

San Francisco advanced with an 8-0 win over the Piratesin the NL wild card game. Half of those runs came from one Brandon Crawford swing of the bat, as the Giants shortstop crushed a fourth-inning grand slam to put his team on top and give the dominant Madison Bumgarner more than enough run support.

Bumgarner was terrific, and the good news for the Nationals here is that they'll only have to face the big left-hander once in the NLDS - likely in Game 3.

Nothing has been officially announced yet, but here is how it looks like the starting pitching matchups will play out for the opening four games:

Game 1: Stephen Strasburg vs. Jake Peavy
Game 2: Jordan Zimmermann vs. Tim Hudson
Game 3: Doug Fister vs. Madison Bumgarner
Game 4: Gio Gonzalez vs. Yusmeiro Petit

With the Giants' win tonight, Game 1 of the NLDS will start at 3:07 p.m.

The Giants have won two of the last four World Series. The Nats will try and advance to the League Championship Series for the first time in team history.

Here we go.