According to a tweet from MLB.com's Bill Ladson, Stephen Strasburg will start the Nationals' first game after the All-Star break, Friday, July 16 in Florida.
If you take a look at the schedule, and keeping with the Nats' desire to limit his total innings this season to 160 and to have him pitch every fifth day, the phenom will finish his season before Labor Day.
The team originally stated that they hoped to be able to have Strasburg pitch through September, but considering that he's already thrown 92 innings between the majors and minors this season, that leaves him 68 innings left to reach his threshold.
If he averages six innings per start, that gives him 11 starts remaining (including tonight's game against San Francisco).
If the Nats keep him on an every fifth day schedule from July 16 on, he'll make his tenth post-ASG start Wednesday, September 1 at Florida. The team could skip a start or build in extra days of rest, but on an every-fifth-day rotation there are two extras days due to the vagueries of the schedule.
Here's what Strasburg's schedule could look like, given the usual caveats of rain days and team discretion:
Sat., 7/9 v. SF
Fri., 7/16 @ FLA
Wed., 7/21 @ CIN
Tues., 7/27 v. ATL (team off 7/26, extra day)
Sun., 8/1 v. PHI
Fri., 8/6 @ LAD
Wed.. 8/11 v. FLA
Tues., 8/17 @ ATL (team off 8/16, extra day)
Sun., 8/22 @ PHI
Fri., 8/27 v. STL
Wed., 9/1 @ FLA
Don't run off buying tickets based on this evaluation, because a lot can change between now and Sept. 1. It's just a fun exercise to see how things might play out the rest of the way.
Can I pencil in Jordan Zimmermann for the 9/6 start?
I think you're probably right Eric.