The San Francisco Giants play the Washington Nationals on Friday in Game 1 of the 2014 NL Division Series. The game starts at 3:07 p.m. ET. Listen to the live radio broadcast below.
Washington heads into the postseason as the NL East champions. To help the Nationals prepare for Friday, the team had an intrasquad scrimmage on Wednesday, which included a full dress rehearsal: fake crowd noise, the game-day PA announcer introducing the players and even the national anthem, according to the Associated Press.
"All in all, it was good camaraderie and good competition and got the juices flowing a little bit, which is what was needed," Nationals reliever Tyle Clippard told the Associated Press, referring to the four days off the team had. "It was a game situation. We in this clubhouse are very competitive people, and want to beat each other just as bad as we want to beat everybody else."
Friday marks Washington's first trip to the playoffs since 2012, when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games in the NLDS.
"We kind of know what to expect a little bit more," said Nationals slugger Ryan Zimmerman. "We went into '12 not really knowing what to expect and thinking that everything would be the same. And it's not the same. ... Every pitch is so much more intense. It's just a different feel."
Giants pitcher Tim Hudson believes his team, despite being the underdogs, has what it takes to advance to the championship series.
"We may not match up with a lot of people on paper," he said. "But I think once you get out there and play, the guts and the heart that this team has ... gets this team over the hump a lot of times."
Nationals ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg (14-11, 3.14 ERA) opens the series against Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (7-13, 3.73).
Listen to the live radio broadcast HERE (SF) and HERE (WAS).
