The Dodgers are going with the young gun in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
Los Angeles announced Wednesday it will start 25-year-old Walker Buehler against the Nationals at 8:37 p.m. ET on Thursday on TBS.
Buehler gets the nod over three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw and 2019 Cy Young contender Hyun-Jin Ryu.
The youngster who played his college baseball at Vanderbilt went 14-4 with a 3.26 ERA this season.
Of all of the Dodgers starters, he possesses the best fastball averaging 96.6 mph on his heater this year.
The Nationals were significantly better against finesse pitchers like Ryu and Kershaw this season posting a .273 batting average against them while batting .249 against power pitchers like Buehler.
Washington will counter with Patrick Corbin who threw seven shutout innings against the Dodgers in his only start against them this year.