With the top teams out of the mix, it’s on to a most unlikely matchup in the NL Championship Series. The St. Louis Cardinals are back in the NLCS for the first time since 2014 after a stunner of an inning in Atlanta. They’ll face the Washington Nationals, who dispatched their playoff demons with an upset of the 106-win Dodgers.

Howie Kendrick hit a tiebreaking grand slam off Joe Kelly in the 10th inning, and the Washington Nationals overcame a three-run deficit with a late rally to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3 Wednesday night and advance to the NL Championship Series against St. Louis.

Stephen Strasburg’s 2012 shutdown is a distant memory by now. This sort of setting and stakes – Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the outcome of the NL Division Series on the line – is exactly why the Washington Nationals protected the pitcher they drafted No. 1 overall all those years ago.

Max Scherzer’s season-saving, seven-inning pitching performance and Ryan Zimmerman’s three-run homer lifted the wild-card Washington Nationals to a 6-1 victory over the league-best Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday to force a deciding Game 5 in their NL Division Series.

Justin Turner’s homer capped a startling and record-setting seven-run rally in the sixth inning as the Dodgers roughed up starter-turned-reliever Patrick Corbin, and Los Angeles beat Washington 10-4 for a 2-1 lead in their NL Division Series.

Stephen Strasburg turned in another dominant playoff outing, Max Scherzer overpowered Los Angeles for an inning out of the bullpen and the Washington Nationals held off the Dodgers 4-2 Friday night to even their NL Division Series at a game apiece.

Walker Buehler allowed one hit over six scoreless innings, Max Muncy drove in three runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers capitalized on mistakes to beat the Washington Nationals 6-0 in Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Thursday night.

Juan Soto gets key eighth-inning single as Nationals rally past Brewers 4-3 in NL wild-card game.

Max Scherzer throws the first pitch of this year’s playoffs when Washington takes on the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL wild-card game at Nationals Park (Tuesday, 5:08 p.m. PDT).

The Washington Nationals assured themselves of hosting the NL wild-card game by holding on to beat the already-eliminated Cleveland Indians 10-7 Saturday with the help of Gerardo Parra’s grand slam in a nine-run second inning.

The Nationals don’t know which team they’ll face in the NL wild-card game or where it will be played, but they do know this: Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer will be their starting pitcher.

Trea Turner’s go-ahead grand slam lifted Washington to a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies for a doubleheader sweep Tuesday that helped the Nationals clinch an NL wild card, capping quite a turnaround for a team that was 19-31 in late May.

MLB roundup:

Ronald Acuna Jr. ignited a four-run rally with the go-ahead, two-run double, and the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves clinched a playoff berth with a 10-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

Anthony Rendon homered and had four hits, including an RBI single in the 11th inning, and the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 7-5 on Sunday for their fifth straight victory.

Right now, 19-31 is just a distant memory for the Washington Nationals. Even without Max Scherzer for all but one game over the past month-plus, even with recurring bullpen issues, even though they dug themselves quite a hole, the Nationals are suddenly 65-55 – 10 games over .500 for the first time in 14 months.

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer says he is ready to get in a game for the Washington Nationals and come off the injured list. Scherzer played catch at Nationals Park a day after throwing the equivalent of about two innings in a simulated game. He said he’s able to return to action following a back muscle problem and doesn’t want to go to the minors for a rehab start. Manager Dave Martinez said he still needed to speak to Scherzer and a trainer before deciding on his ace’s status.

A person familiar with the deal says right-handed reliever Greg Holland and the Washington Nationals have an agreement in principle on a minor league contract. The deal is pending the completion of a successful physical exam. The 33-year-old Holland was designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks last week. He appeared in 24 games for Washington last season. Holland is a three-time All-Star who led the National League in saves in 2017 with 41 for the Colorado Rockies.

Josh Donaldson homered against Sean Doolittle in the top of the 10th, and the Atlanta Braves pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday to take two of three in the series and pad their NL East lead to 6