Nats announce makeup games vs. Marlins, starters vs. Orioles

They've had a bunch of days off in the last week, but the Nationals are going to make up for it with a bunch of doubleheaders later in the season.

Major League Baseball announced a slew of schedule changes Thursday to account for all the games lost due to coronavirus outbreaks among the Marlins and Cardinals. And in order for the Nats to make up their postponed weekend against Miami, they're going to have to play three doubleheaders in two cities before season's end.

The Nationals and Marlins are scheduled to face each other twice more in 2020: Aug. 21-24 in Washington, then Sept. 18-20 in Miami. MLB will have them make up the lost games during each of those series.

The two clubs will now play a doubleheader Aug. 22, beginning at 4:05 p.m. The Nationals will serve as the home team in the first game, which was on the schedule all along. Then they'll play another game with the Marlins serving as the designated home team, much as the Blue Jays did when they were here last week.

The late-September series at Marlins Park will include five games in three days, with a 5:10 p.m. doubleheader Sept. 18 followed by one game the next day and then a 1:10 p.m. doubleheader Sept. 20 to wrap things up. The Marlins will be the home team for all five games.

And remember, all doubleheader games the rest of this season are scheduled for seven innings, with the new extra-inning automatic runner rule taking effect if any game reaches the eighth.

All of that creates an overstuffed schedule during the second half of this abridged season. The Nationals are scheduled to play only 22 games in the season's first 29 days, then 38 games in the final 38 days (three doubleheaders and three off-days).

* The Nationals announced their rotation plans for the first two-thirds of this weekend's interleague series with the Orioles, but are holding off naming a starter for Sunday's finale.

Aníbal Sánchez will take the mound tonight in the opener at Nationals Park, with Austin Voth following Saturday evening.

Patrick Corbin, who last pitched Tuesday against the Mets, would be on normal rest if he returned to start Sunday against Baltimore. But the club may be waiting to see if Stephen Strasburg is ready to make his much anticipated season debut that afternoon, allowing Corbin to get an extra day of rest and then face the Mets again Monday at Citi Field.

Strasburg threw 32 pitches in a simulated game Wednesday afternoon, fewer than manager Davey Martinez originally said he expected the right-hander to throw (45 to 50). The smaller workload, though, may allow Strasburg to come back and start his first real game of the season four days later.