WASHINGTON — 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.

Strasburg will get the ball for visiting wild card Washington, and Walker Buehler will be on the mound for league-best LA on Wednesday night in the finale of the best-of-five series.

“Better to be at home than on the road in Game 5,” Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger said.

The Dodgers are trying to reach the NL Championship Series for the fourth consecutive year, while the Nationals have never won a playoff series since the franchise moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005.

“We've got their big horse against one of our horses,” Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki said.

ATLANTA — The Braves are back in the A-T-L for a decisive postseason game.That's not necessarily a good omen for the home team.Over the years, Atlanta is the place where other teams come to celebrate in October.The St. Louis Cardinals hope to continue that trend when they face the Braves in Game 5 of the NL Division Series on Wednesday.“I was just a little kid when that happened,” Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “History is history. We're in the moment now. This is a completely different and new team. So we're going to focus on being the best we can tomorrow.”Indeed, Swanson was just 7 years old when Atlanta began a streak of nine straight postseason-round losses with a five-game setback to Arizona in the 2001 NL Championship Series.Still, it's impossible to ignore that the Braves are just one series loss away from equaling a record set by the Chicago Cubs between 1908 and 2003.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Willy Adames homered and made a sensational relay throw from shortstop, Tommy Pham also went deep and the Tampa Bay Rays chased Justin Verlander early in beating the Houston Astros 4-1 Tuesday night to even their AL Division Series at two games apiece.Ryan Yarbrough and five other pitchers combined on a six-hitter for Tampa Bay. Verlander, starting on short rest after dominating the wild-card Rays in Game 1, looked uncomfortable on the mound and was pulled in the fourth after giving up four runs.The best-of-five series shifts back to Houston for a decisive Game 5 on Thursday.