WASHINGTON -- Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo doesn't expect to have Stephen Strasburg back on the mound for the beginning of the playoffs.
"It's unlikely that he'd contribute in that first series," said Rizzo, whose team clinched the National League East title this past weekend and will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series starting next Friday.
Rizzo said Strasburg, who has been on the disabled list since Sept. 7 with a strained flexor mass in his right arm, played catch at a distance of 90 feet on flat ground Tuesday.
"We'll see how he feels afterwards," the Nats GM said. "I think [the NLDS] would be kind of pushing it."
If Strasburg doesn't take part in the division series, it won't be the first time he has missed playoff action. In 2012, when the Nationals won their first division title, they played the postseason without Strasburg, whom the team shut down in early September due to concerns about his health in the wake of his 2010 Tommy John surgery.
A former top overall pick in 2009, Strasburg did participate in Washington's second postseason appearance in 2014, taking the loss in Game 1 of the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants.
This season, Strasburg is 15-4 with a 3.60 ERA and was named an All-Star for the second time following a first half in which he went 12-0 with a 2.62 ERA.
Strasburg isn't the only Washington All-Star dealing with health issues. On Tuesday, the Nationals announced catcher Wilson Ramos suffered a torn ACL and is out for the season. Outfielder Bryce Harper, whose X-rays on his injured thumb came back negative, was not in the lineup for the second straight day, and second baseman Daniel Murphy (strained left buttocks) was out for the fifth consecutive game.
In addition, pitcher A.J. Cole was suspended Tuesday for five games and fined for throwing a pitch near the head of Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang on Saturday. Cole is appealing.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.