Among the myriad of “not on my bingo card” moments from Game 7 of the World Series, let’s not forget one that occurred early on, before things got truly nuts.
Max Scherzer outlasted Shohei Ohtani.
Sure, Ohtani was pitching on three days’ rest. But Scherzer is 41. During the first part of the season, he considered retiring because of a lingering thumb injury. He then had a 10.20 ERA in four September starts while fighting through an issue in his left (non-pitching) shoulder. The Toronto Blue Jays left him off their Division Series roster.
Yet there Scherzer was in Game 7, allowing one run in 4 1/3 innings while Ohtani allowed three runs, all on a homer by Bo Bichette, in 2 1/3. The takeaway for Scherzer, not just from that start but all three he made in the postseason, is rather obvious.
“I still can do this,” the 18-year veteran said.
Only 12 pitchers this century have made 30 or more starts in their age-41 seasons or older, led by Jamie Moyer, who did it five times, and Randy Johnson, who did it three times. Scherzer will be considered 41 in 2026; a player’s baseball age is how old he is as of July 1, and Scherzer’s birthday is not until July 27. He last made 30 starts in 2021, and he has managed only 26 combined the past two seasons. But now that he is again a free agent, at least one executive believes he can be a viable starter next season.
“No doubt. No doubt,” the executive said. “He may not get 30 starts. But can he get 20 starts at a mid-3.00 ERA and a mid-3.00 FIP, be a guy who’s going to compete and care about winning? I 100 percent believe that.”
Some in the industry expect Scherzer to land with the San Francisco Giants, reuniting with new manager Tony Vitello, his pitching coach at Missouri in the mid-2000s. A return to Toronto also might be an option. Scherzer, like virtually all of the Blue Jays, speaks with great fondness about the unique bonds the players and their families forged last season.
Scherzer isn’t ready to talk about his wish list. “The World Series is still so fresh in my mind,” he said, “and in my heart, it’s hard to even think about solving free agency.” The biggest thing, he said, is that he no longer has to deal with the right thumb inflammation that surfaced in 2023, making it painful for him to grip the ball and creating other arm problems the past three seasons.
“The way I see it, I’m healthy. I’m going to be able to go into spring training. I’m going to be able to ramp up,” Scherzer said. “I have a track record of being a durable starter. I know how to navigate a season. I know how to navigate starts. I just feel I’m in a much better position to be able to do that now that I have this thumb issue completely resolved.”
Scherzer, after signing a one-year, $15.5 million free-agent deal with the Jays, made one start before going on the injured list because of his thumb. During his rehabilitation, he considered stepping away for good. Even then he had value to the Jays, with manager John Schneider referring to him as “a second pitching coach.” But some with the team also feared he might not return.
“That thought definitely crossed my mind,” Scherzer said. “If I wasn’t going to be healthy, and (by) pitching through this, you end up injuring your arm. … This thing was not going away. It’s not fun sitting on the IL. I was definitely frustrated and definitely concerned about my future as well.”
Scherzer did not rejoin the team until June 25 and even then was not at full strength, with his thumb tiring after 50 or 60 pitches.
But slowly, he returned to form. In eight starts between July 11 and Aug. 25, he had a 3.49 ERA despite allowing 10 home runs in 49 innings.
Then, as he prepared to face the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 31, he felt what he described as an upper back spasm on his left side. The discomfort did not prevent him from throwing a baseball. But Scherzer said it compromised the way he “got through the ball,” preventing him from finishing his pitches properly.
“My mechanics changed. That lingered a little bit longer than I like to admit,” Scherzer said. “If you have something on your left side, you think it’s not going to hurt anything on your arm so you’re going to go out there and pitch. And in September, we were fighting for every last game. I didn’t have time to go to the IL.
“I’ve pitched through a lot of things in my career. If you’re able to throw the baseball, you can go out there and win. That’s the mentality I always have with these things. You can’t use them as excuses. Players on the other side have ailments they have to play through as well. It can never be an excuse. You’re always going to take the ball.”
He did that much. But it did not go well. The nadir came on Sept. 19, when Scherzer lasted just two-thirds of an inning in Kansas City, the shortest start of his career excluding an injury-shortened outing in 2021. He allowed seven runs, matching the most he had ever given up in a single inning.
The Blue Jays finished with the best record in the American League, drawing a first-round bye. When they set their roster for the Division Series, it did not include Scherzer or righty Chris Bassitt, who ended the season on the IL with lower back inflammation.
Righties Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage and Shane Bieber opened the playoffs as the Jays’ top three starters. The team, in proceeding without Scherzer and Bassitt, knew a bullpen game would be necessary in a potential Game 4 against the New York Yankees. But when that exact scenario transpired, eight Jays relievers wound up closing out the series in a 5-2 victory.
“Of course I was upset. Obviously, you want the ball,” Scherzer said about being left off the DS roster. “But looking back on it now, everything worked the way it needed to work. I needed to get healthy. I needed to get right so I could be the best version of myself.”
Warming up in Seattle to face the Mariners in Game 4 of the ALCS, Scherzer was struck by the way he was finishing pitches and how easily the ball was coming out of his hand.
“Oh my gosh,” he thought. “I feel like myself again.”
That night, he allowed just two runs in 5 2/3 innings in an 8-2 victory that tied the series at two games each. Scherzer’s performance will be remembered most for his fiery, foul-mouthed confrontation with Schneider during a mound visit with two outs in the fifth. Mad Max was back, in every way.
For the World Series, Scherzer switched places with Bieber, starting Game 3 instead of Game 4. The Jays were mindful of asking too much of Bieber, who was just 18 months removed from Tommy John surgery. They wanted to give him an extra day’s rest and avoid starting him twice in the series.
Scherzer, then, lined up for Game 7, but the Jays didn’t view that distinction as particularly meaningful, figuring any winner-take-all finale would amount to a bullpen game anyway.
Scherzer’s Game 3 start, in which he allowed homers by Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández, was the worst of his three in October. Yet, when he departed with one out in the fifth inning, the Jays still led 4-2. They wound up losing 6-5 in 18 innings and falling behind two games to one.
When the Jays rallied to win the next two games, it put Scherzer in an uncomfortable spot for Game 6 at Rogers Centre. He knew the Jays could win the World Series that night. He also knew he needed to stay ready for a possible Game 7.
“That was not fun to watch,” Scherzer said. “As much as I wanted to ride the roller coaster and jump around with everybody, really be a part of Game 6, I realized my job was Game 7, in case we lose. No one wants to have that thought in Game 6. That 24 to 48 hours was really a challenge.”
Sure enough, the Jays lost Game 6, 3-1.
Scherzer thus became the oldest pitcher to start Game 7 of the World Series. He also became the only living pitcher to start a Game 7 in the World Series multiple times. Only Bob Gibson (1964, ’67 and ’68), Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ’58) did it previously.
Scherzer’s first Game 7 start in the World Series was for the Washington Nationals in 2019, and only after he was pushed back because of painful spasms in his neck and upper right trapezius. The Houston Astros managed 11 base runners in five innings against him. But Scherzer gave up only two runs, and the Nationals won 6-2.
In this year’s Game 7, matched up against Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Scherzer figured to be pulled at the first sign of trouble. But he escaped the first inning unscathed after a leadoff single by Ohtani and retired the side in order in the second and third. Even after Will Smith hit a double and Freddie Freeman hit a single to open the fourth, Scherzer allowed only one run, on a sacrifice fly by Hernández. Schneider finally removed him after a one-out single by Miguel Rojas in the fifth, not wanting him to face Ohtani a third time.
Scherzer’s four-seam fastball averaged 95.2 mph, the best of his 20 regular-season and postseason starts. Since his debut in 2008, he has pitched nearly 3,000 regular-season innings. He has made 28 starts, nearly a full season’s worth, in the playoffs. And in some ways, Game 7 was his finest hour.
“It’s way up there,” Scherzer said. “You don’t fully appreciate things until you really get away from them, understand the impact you have on all the fans until you have time to truly reflect upon it.
“The last Game 7 I threw was arguably one of the most important games of my life, winning that first Series ring. This one, to be pitching again, and what that game meant to the Blue Jays and all the fans in Canada — obviously, it’s a different outcome, but it’s also a game I don’t think anybody is ever going to forget.
“That’s what Game 7s bring in the World Series. These are kind of life-changing starts. It’s hard to even put into words what it means, where it ranks in my career. I’m still processing it.”
One thing he knows for sure: He isn’t finished yet. Scherzer said his wife, Erica, and four children, ranging in age from almost 3 to almost 8, are on board with him returning for a 19th season.
“Knowing that my thumb is healthy, that means my right arm is going to be healthy. That was the No. 1 worry,” Scherzer said. “I’m past that. I’m way past that. Now, looking forward, I want to still compete, and compete for a World Series. I want to continue my career and play in 2026.”
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