Stephen Strasburg will return to action next Tuesday in Washington:

Strasburg will rest tomorrow aside from playing catch and shagging during batting practice, the same routine as any Nationals pitcher. On Thursday, he will throw a simulated game with batters standing in the box. He’ll rest again Friday and throw another bullpen session Saturday in Los Angeles. At that point, the Nationals will be able finalize the decision they’ve made: that Strasburg will start Aug. 10 against the Marlins.

“It’s only tentative if he doesn’t respond 100 percent to the workload,” Manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’re anticipating everything will go fine and he can pitch Tuesday. But if there’s the slightest something to be cautious about, we’ll back off from that.”

By announcing this now, the Nationals can sell a lot of tickets for Tuesday’s game. It’s good, however, that Strasburg doesn’t seem to be seriously injured.