Is this Max Scherzer’s swan song?
The 42-year-old three-time Cy Young winner teased an announcement about his future after pitching in Game 1 of a Blue Jays doubleheader against the Orioles on Wednesday.
“I’ll probably say something here in the next couple days,” Scherzer said, per Sportsnet.
The future Hall of Famer, a two-time World Series champion who pitched for the Mets in 2022 and ’23, gave up four runs on four hits and three walks with seven strikeouts across five innings in a 4-2 loss.
He told reporters he’s hoping to pitch again Sunday against the Reds in the season finale in front of the home fans in Toronto, which would require him pitching on short rest.
“I don’t know if I want to publicly say, yet. I’d rather keep the blinders up and address once the season’s over,” Scherzer said regarding his future, per Sportsnet. “I’m not limping to the finish line, I’m accelerating through the finish line. … Want to keep the focus on just getting to finish line.”
It’s been a rough two-year stint in Toronto for Scherzer, who after pitching to a 5.19 ERA in 17 starts last season has a 6.14 ERA in 17 starts this year while battling injuries.
There have been flashes of vintage Scherzer, though. On Aug. 30, he pitched seven shutout innings while allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 10.
After that outing, it was brought up how he has said during the year he feels he can still compete at an elite level if he’s healthy, and he was asked if that performance was validating for him.
“No, because I knew,” he replied.
Scherzer is currently ninth on the all-time strikeouts list with 3,550, just four behind his former Tigers and Mets teammate Justin Verlander, who makes his final career start for Detroit on Saturday.
The eight-time All-Star has a 74.1 wins above replacement (WAR) for his career, per Baseball Reference, with a 3.29 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and a 224-126 record across 3,040 ⅔ innings in 19 seasons.
In 33 playoff appearances (28 starts), Scherzer has a 3.78 ERA with 182 strikeouts in 157 ⅓ innings.
The right-hander helped lead the Nationals to their first ever World Series title in 2019 and won another ring with the Rangers in 2023 after a midseason trade from the Mets.
He also appeared in the 2012 World Series with Detroit and last year’s Fall Classic with the Jays.
