For just the 40th time in Major League Baseball history, we’ll see a Game 7 of the World Series Wednesday evening.
It pits the Washington Nationals against the Astros in Houston after the road team came away with a big win Tuesday evening.
Unfortunately for the Nationals, catcher Kurt Suzuki has been scratched from the game. In his place, Yan Gomes will get the start to catch Max Scherzer.
This is no small thing. Coming off an injury himself, Scherzer was much better pitching to Suzuki during the regular season. It wasn’t even that close.
Scherzer posted a 2.08 ERA while holding batters to a .204 average and .578 OPS when Suzuki caught for him.
For comparison’s sake, he sported a 4.09 ERA and saw hitters post a .245/.713 split with Gomes catching.