Max Scherzer turns back the clock in ALCS Game 4, just when the Blue Jays needed him most
With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the series in the best-of-seven ALCS by two games each, a trend is starting to take hold. The Seattle Mariners have won both games in Toronto, and the Blue Jays have so far won their first two games in Seattle, including Thursday night’s 8-2 win (box score). Yes, the road team won every game.
We’ve seen a road team win all seven games twice before in a seven-game series. ALCS 2023 and World Series 2019. Do you know who was on the 2019 National Team that won it all? Max Scherzer.
He took the ball for the Blue Jays in Game 4, hoping to help the Jays avoid falling behind 3-1 in the series. And although the old Mad Max movie doesn’t exist anymore, the 41-year-old turned back the clock on Thursday night, enough to clinch the win.
The final line was less impressive than he was actually looking for the last several innings, thanks to a stranded runner who came in to score after Scherzer’s departure, though it was still very good: 5 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 2 ER.
Again, though, it was more than just numbers. Max was freaking Scherzer. Mad Max.
We’ve all seen his facial expressions and mannerisms on the mound long enough to recognize them. He was breathing fire on the mound from his first pitch. He was walking around the hill after he swung and missed. There was a loud outburst after Eugenio Suarez’s first-half knockdown.
And of course, there was manager John Schneider who had the audacity to come out and check on Mad Max with two fifth-place finishes.
Scherzer will strike out the next batter. The intensity was on full display.
Scherzer is 41 years old. He had a 9.00 ERA in his last five regular season starts. He hasn’t pitched in a game since September 24 and wasn’t even on the ALDS roster. He wasn’t supposed to do this against a good Mariners offense.
However, the longer he stayed on that hill Thursday, the closer he looked to Prime Minister Scherzer.
He got into trouble at first and a double play got him out of it. He allowed a solo homer to start the second. He had no hits through 2⅔ innings. He finished with 5 hits over 5 innings. He only threw the curveball 10 times, but got 10 swings on it, including six whiffs. In the 20 swings he drew with his four-seam fastball, 12 were foul balls.
Some, including myself, believe it was a mistake for the Blue Jays to trust Scherzer with so many games they needed to win. But Schneider saw something.
“So, from talking to him over the last couple of weeks, I think you feel comfortable and confident about where he is, and hopefully he can finish some pitches a little better than he was a couple of weeks ago,” he said of Scherzer before Game 3 on Wednesday. “So it’s easy to trust someone who’s been through what he’s been through and done what he’s done. One of the great things about Max is he doesn’t blame anyone. He’ll tell you exactly how he feels. So that may not always be what I tell you guys for certain reasons, but I think the rest of it was a good thing for him.”
Before the game, Scherzer was Mad Max.
“I love it,” he said Wednesday of the so-called pressure. “This is what you play for. You want to get the ball in that situation, and you want to throw the ball in the postseason. Every game in the postseason has to be won, so when you step on the field in those situations, you have to bring it, you have to have an A-game, you have to really be on top of your stuff. So they’re going to be fully prepared to go at me and try to beat me, and I’ve got to do the same and find a way to navigate.”
This wasn’t what Babe Ruth allegedly called his shot or anything dramatic, but Scherzer nailed it. He said he needed to find a way to navigate the game. He did just that over 17 working holidays.
None of this is surprising, of course. Scherzer won three Cy Young Awards and two World Series titles. In the regular season, he won 221 games and struck out nearly 3,500 batters. In 143 playoff innings before Game 4, he had 171 strikeouts and seven wins.
In Game 4, he recorded his first postseason win since 2019. You know, the same year Scherzer and his countrymen won four games on the road to take the World Series. The Blue Jays, after starting 2-0, are at the halfway point in the 2025 ALCS.