WASHINGTON -- In May of 2016, in a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs, right fielder Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals walked 13 times.

The Cubs went on to win the World Series while Harper tailed off the rest of the season, hitting .243 with 24 homers after batting .330 with 42 longballs in 2015.

Harper and Cubs manager Joe Maddon will be reunited Monday when Chicago begins a four-game series in Washington against the first-place Nationals. Washington lefty Gio Gonzalez (7-1, 2.96) will face Cubs right-hander Eddie Butler (3-2, 4.19).

"We have a tough series coming up here with the Cubs," Washington manager Dusty Baker said Sunday, after his team lost 6-2 at home to the Cincinnati Reds.

Baker noted that teams that win the World Series may play a month more of a baseball than non-playoff teams. Then he noted post-season rubber chicken circuit also shortens the winter for World Series squads.

"I think we will get up for them," said Baker, whose team has played well against playoff caliber teams this year. The Nationals are 45-30 while the Cubs are 38-37 and just 16-20 on the road.

The first game of the series will be special for Butler (3-2, 4.19), who will get the start about four hours from his childhood home in the Tidewater region of Virginia. He played in college at Radford, a member of the Big South Conference based in southwest Virginia.

Butler, one of the few Radford products to make the majors, was drafted out of college by the Colorado Rockies in 2012 as the 46th overall pick.

Butler started on June 16 against the Pittsburgh Pirates when Maddon was ejected after arguing a call in the first inning. Butler had to cut his white long-sleeve undershirt before throwing a pitch in that game.

Current Washington batters are 5-for-16 (.313) against Butler, who has limited big league experience. Adam Lind, who started at first on Sunday for Ryan Zimmerman, is 1-for-2 with a homer against Butler.

Cubs hitters are 20-for-97 (.206) against Gonzalez, who has been with Washington since 2012. That includes outfielder Jason Heyward (8-for-37, .216), who just went on the disabled list.

Anthony Rizzo, a lefty swinger, is just 2-for-20 against Gonzalez. Rizzo has been batting leadoff for the Cubs of late, though that could change with Gonzalez on the mound.

Gonzalez is 3-2 with a 3.93 ERA in nine career starts against the Cubs. Last year he was 0-0 with a 6.00 ERA in two starts against Chicago.

Butler is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in one career start against the Nationals, which came when he was with the Colorado Rockies in 2015.

Cubs infielder Addison Russell has been dealing with a sore shoulder and may not play Monday after he left Sunday's game in the fourth inning.

"There's a difference when you are trying to work through something and you are working against something," he told reporters Sunday in Miami. "Over the next couple of days, I'm going to get some treatment. As far as my shoulder, I don' think there is anything wrong."

Maddon said Russell has had issues with his throwing arm last year and again last month.

"I was expecting to hear bad, but I haven't," Maddon told reporters after a 4-2 loss to the Marlins. "I'm hearing with maintenance, he should be able to play (soon). But we will know more tomorrow. I think it's just a young arm, like a young pitcher. It's nothing debilitating, just nagging."