First pitch: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles +104, Washington -114, Total: 7

In a marquee National League matchup, the Los Angeles Dodgers head to the Nation’s capitol to take on the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

The Dodgers had a solid first half of the year and have a hold on first place in the NL West by 4.5 games after rattling off eight wins in their last 12 games before the break. They were able to get series wins against some of the bottom-feeders in the league with defeats over both Philadelphia and Milwaukee, winning five of the last seven games against them while scoring 4.4 runs per game. They had just finished off the Brewers in a rubber-match in their final game, winning 4-3 in a come-from-behind victory. With a ball leaving the park in the matchup, 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.283) continued to prove his worth and ranks in the top-10 in homers (18), RBI (55) and runs (50) in the NL. The Nationals also hold onto first place in their respective division and entered the break going 5-3 over their last three series’. In that stretch they were able to sweep the Giants at home and also go on the road against the Orioles and take 2-of-3 contests. The final defeat of the first half was a close 3-2 game in the rubber-match against Baltimore as they had another solid effort (8.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 7 K) from All-Star Max Scherzer to thank. OF Bryce Harper (.339) finished off the first half with some gaudy numbers, leading the NL with a 5.7 WAR behind 26 homers (2nd in NL), 61 RBI (4th in NL), 59 runs (2nd in NL), .704 SLG (1st in NL) and a 1.168 OPS (1st in NL). Getting the call to start for Los Angeles will be LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-6, 2.85 ERA) as he looks to outduel RHP Jordan Zimmerman (8-5, 3.22 ERA) of the host club. The Dodgers have not looked too great when playing on the road as evidenced by their 18-22 record away from home as the Nationals have put up a mark of 25-16 when in front of their hometown faithful. This will be the 13th time that these two are meeting since the start of the 2013 campaign and it is Los Angeles that holds a slight 7-5 overall edge while winning 4-of-6 contests on the road during that time. Trends show that the Dodgers are an efficient 10-1 (91%) with a struggling bullpen whose ERA is over 6.00 in the last 10 games this year while Washington is 42-16 (.724) in night games when Zimmerman takes the mound in the last three seasons. Los Angeles remains fairly healthy to this point, missing just OF Carl Crawford (Oblique) from the offense as the Nationals are without 3B Anthony Rendon (Quad), 1B Ryan Zimmerman (Foot) and OF Jayson Werth (Wrist).

It was another great first half for Kershaw as he made it to the All-Star Game for the fifth consecutive year at the age of 27. Although impressive, his ERA is the highest it’s been since the 2010 season as the three-time Cy Young Award winner had posted a mark of 2.60 or less in the past four years. He is striking out a career-high 11.7 batters per nine innings though, and remains with some tremendous control (2.0 BB/9) as he has allowed 0.80 balls to leave the park every nine innings on the mound. He continues to improve the amount of groundballs he’s inducing (51% in 2015), but has left runners on-base a career-worst 74.2% of the time. He’s had plenty of experience and success against the Nationals, going 7-2 (8-2 team record) with a 2.67 ERA (1.03 WHIP) against them and has won his last five matchups while compiling a 43:4 K/BB ratio over 38.2 innings. The only players to have done much of anything against him (Zimmerman, Werth, Rendon) are all out with injuries while SS Ian Desmond, OF Bryce Harper and 2B Dan Uggla are a combined 5-for-44 (.114) with a solo home run and 18 strikeouts. The relievers for Los Angeles have gone 21-15 with a 3.56 ERA (1.23 WHIP) and 24-for-37 (65%) in save chances. Kenley Jansen (1.66 ERA, 16 saves) has just one blown save and has a 38:2 K/BB ratio with 10 hits allowed over his 21.2 frames.

Zimmerman is one of the most overlooked pitchers in the National League and despite sitting in the third spot in his rotation when a healthy Strasburg is around; he is one of the better pitchers in the game. He is on pace to post his fifth consecutive season with a 3.25 or better ERA despite mowing down just 6.5 batters per nine innings. He continues to be successful due to his immense control (1.6 BB/9) and ability to keep batters from leaving the yard (0.64 HR/9). Zimmerman had pitched at least seven innings in four of the last five starts before the break with four quality starts and a 29:2 K/BB ratio in that time. He hasn’t been all too successful against Los Angeles, though, going 2-1 (5-1 team record) with a 5.06 ERA (1.47 WHIP), but has done well in his last two meetings totaling 6.1 innings and allowing two runs on nine hits with 11 strikeouts (2 walks). SS Jimmy Rollins (8-for-33, 2 HR, 5 RBI) and 3B Justin Turner (4-for-6, 1 double, 1 HR, 3 RBI) have had some nice at-bats against the righty while 1B Adrian Gonzalez (4-for-17) and C Yasmani Grandal (1-for-7, 4 K) have struggled in the matchup. The bullpen for the Nationals has gone 11-11 with a 3.31 ERA (1.24 WHIP) and has been able to successfully save 29-of-40 (73%) games. Drew Storen (1.89 ERA, 27 saves) has the second-most saves in the NL and allowed just one hit in his last 4.1 scoreless innings before the break.