Following the NLDS, the Nationals advanced to the National League Championship Series (NLCS) to face the St. Louis Cardinals, where Scherzer received the starting assignment for Game 2. In Game 1, starter Aníbal Sánchez lost a bid for a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth. In Game 2, Scherzer took his own no-hitter into the seventh inning before allowing a leadoff single to Paul Goldschmidt. These performances mirrored a feat Sánchez and Scherzer had achieved as teammates while playing in Detroit in Games 1 and 2 of the 2013 ALCS versus the Boston Red Sox. Both pitchers started their respective games with five hitless innings. No other pair of starting pitchers had ever taken no-hitters into the sixth inning against the same team in consecutive postseason games.