Not a lot at stake, but Nats' series vs. Dodgers will draw attention

It's been looming on the schedule for months, a late-season clash between the teams that have held the National League's top two records nearly the entire year. But when the Nationals and Dodgers open their weekend series tonight, there won't be as much on the line as there might have been not long ago.

The combination of the Nationals' recent surge and the Dodgers' recent slide came together to take some juice away from this series. The Nats, of course, already clinched the NL East title Sunday afternoon and now are playing out the string before the postseason. The Dodgers, on the other hand, have lost 16 of their last 19 games (including 11 in a row at one point) and with their magic number still sitting at seven they can't mathematically clinch the NL West while in D.C.

Then there are this weekend's pitching matchups, which do not include either club's ace. Max Scherzer won't pitch again until Wednesday in Atlanta. Clayton Kershaw won't pitch again until Monday in Philadelphia.

Gio Gonzalez and Yu Darvish also aren't appearing on the mound this weekend, leaving the following matchups: Edwin Jackson vs. Alex Wood tonight, A.J. Cole vs. Rich Hill on Saturday afternoon, Stephen Strasburg vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu on Sunday night.

Oh, and then there's Bryce Harper, on the disabled list trying to make it back from a left knee and calf injury before the end of the season.

Which isn't to say there isn't still potential for a compelling series between two very good ballclubs. There's plenty of star power to go around, from Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy and Trea Turner on the Nationals side and Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager and Kenley Jansen on the Dodgers side.

And there's still the possibility of some extra motivation for the Nationals, who trail the Dodgers by five games for the league's best record (and, thus, home-field advantage in the postseason). They had reduced that number to 3 1/2 earlier in the week, but it's still somewhat within reach should they have a big weekend.

These two teams can't meet each other in the National League Division Series (unless the Diamondbacks somehow overtake the Dodgers for the West title, forcing Los Angeles into the wild card game) but an NLCS showdown between the two is certainly possible.

"When you clinch as early as we did, it's good to have a series like this," Jayson Werth said. "It'll be exciting. Obviously they're a good club. We played them last year (in the NLDS). It should be exciting. Maybe a little playoff preview. Maybe not. We'll see."

Given that, this weekend's series could offer a glimpse into what we might expect next month. If nothing else, it gives both teams a chance to get a firsthand look at each other only weeks before they could meet again.

"I've been trying to watch Dodger games, but it's hard to stay up," manager Dusty Baker said. "Cause I don't know half the guys who are on that team. I say: 'Who's that guy pitching? What's he throw?' Cause I'm trying to do some scouting on my own. Not that I don't trust our scouts. But I trust me.

"So it's not bad (to be facing them now). Actually, I want to see who might be on their roster. You're scouting and playing them at the same time, yeah. I'm glad we're playing them."