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If you don’t know the full, laborious, laughable story of how Stephen Strasburg suddenly, magically showed up for the Game 4 start that the Nationals announced as Tanner Roark’s after Tuesday’s rainout, then you need to do some homework and catch up with the class.

Short version: He was shamed into it.

Snark version: Shame happens when your team is facing another embarrassing end to a season and you’re characterized as a guy planning to sit out with a case of sniffles borne of mold. Who needs a playoff win when you’re bucking for that prized Kleenex endorsement?

The mold mocking went national, but it couldn’t have been more important than the feeling among Nationals players who must’ve had a group skunk eye ready for Strasburg.

By Wednesday morning, word leaked that he might pitch while damage control painted him as hooked up to IVs and megadosed on antibiotics, and I don’t know, maybe a priest was called, and had the game started at 7:30 p.m. instead of 3, I suspect the extra time would’ve resulted in his nomination for sainthood.

And it still might. After what he did to the Cubs in Game 4, he still might.

Strasburg ruined the Cubs, is what he did. He delivered a performance more dominating than his Game 1 outing in which he carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. The game of a lifetime.

Nationals manager Dusty Baker thought Strasburg would take the mound at 90 percent. Could’ve added an extra zero and been right. Strasburg’s fastball was in the mid-90s with movement, his curve was in the low 80s with bend, his change was in the dirt and the Cubs couldn’t lay off it. Antibiotics for everyone.

Strasburg threw a stunning 106 pitches in seven shutout innings, striking out 12. He gave up three hits, and I still don’t know how. One runner reached third.

If Strasburg ever was going to show the effects of his illness, it would be in a seventh inning that he entered having already thrown 89 pitches.

But no. In protecting a 1-0 lead, he spent his last 17 pitches striking out Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell and Jason Heyward, all with that devastating changeup.

After setting down the Cubs in the seventh, Strasburg gained four more runs of support thanks to a Michael A. Taylor grand slam after Joe Maddon played reliever roulette and lost. Again.

Strasburg, meanwhile, won some new-found respect. A guy perceived by many as soft and requiring perfect conditions in which to work, took the mound in windy, drizzly conditions as awful as he reportedly felt, and he owned it. Owned the mound, the game, the Cubs. Masterful.

The Nationals don’t have a long playoff history. They don’t have a lot of postseason heroes. But now, what had been jokingly referred to as the “Mold Game” following Baker’s goofy explanation Tuesday became Washington’s version of Michael Jordan’s flu game.

I guess I was wrong when I suggested the Cubs use the rainout to skip Jake Arrieta in Game 4 and start Kyle Hendricks. Should’ve been Jon Lester.

So, that’s consecutive playoff games in which bad things have happened after Maddon took out Lester in a relief appearance. Stop it already.

When your team’s highlight in a particular game is a pitcher with the yips picking off a runner, you’re probably not having the playoff game you dreamed of.

Javier Baez held up on a 1-and-2 changeup in the dirt. Call Cooperstown.

How in the world can the Cubs get forced to play a Game 5 in a series in which Bryce Harper is hitting .133? I’ll hang up and listen for Kris Bryant to make a difference.

What’s up, Jeff Huson?

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