Max Scherzer of the Toronto Blue Jays is about to become the only living pitcher to start two winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series.
Scherzer is slated to take the mound Saturday night to face the Los Angeles Dodger, who are starting star player Shohei Ohtani.
Scherzer also started Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, boosted by a cortisone injection for an irritated nerve near his neck. He didn’t have a clean inning and left after five, trailing by two runs before his Washington Nationals rallied to win 6-2 in Houston.
Only Bob Gibson (1964, ‘67, ’68) and Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ‘58) have started multiple winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series. Burleigh Grimes started Game 7 in 1920 and ’31, but his first was in a year the Series was best-of-nine.
Toronto gave Scherzer, 41, a $15.5-million, one-year contract. The three-time Cy Young Award winner picked his destination hoping to win a third World Series ring, after titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. The 18-year big league veteran has eagerly shared his experience with the Blue Jays.
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“He’s not afraid to question baserunning, question defence, question offence. He still thinks he’s our best baserunner on the team from his days with the Nationals,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Friday. “He’s not afraid to push the envelope. He’s not afraid to be curious. He’s not afraid to share things that he’s been through that maybe I haven’t been through.”
Scherzer went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in 17 starts this season. The eight-time All-Star didn’t pitch between March 29 and June 25 because of right thumb inflammation, then was left off Toronto’s roster for the first round of the playoffs after he went 0-3 in his last five starts, bothered by neck pain.
He turned back the clock during the American League Championship Series, winning Game 4 against Seattle after shouting down Schneider during a mound visit.
“No better guy to have on the mound to kind of navigate the emotions, the stuff,” Schneider said. “Max has been getting ready for Game 7 when he knew he was pitching Game 3.”
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Starting Ohtani makes more sense for the Dodgers than using him in relief.
Under a rule adopted for the 2022 season, pitchers who start games in the batting order can remain in the game as a designated hitter after leaving the mound. If Ohtani would start the game only as a DH and then would take the mound, the Dodgers would lose their DH and pitchers would have to bat in that slot if Ohtani was relieved.
Ohtani has never pitched in relief during his Major League Baseball career. He made a handful of relief appearances in Japan for the Pacific League’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, mostly as a rookie in 2013. He closed out Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic final against the United States, striking out then-Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out.
Ohtani is batting .318 in the World Series with three homers, five RBIs and eight walks. He is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA, striking out six and walking one in his Game 4 start as he threw 93 pitches.
Toronto will be playing a World Series Game 7 for the first time — the Blue Jays won their only championships in six games in both 1992 and ’93.
The L.A. Dodgers won their only World Series Game 7 at Minnesota in 1965, when Sandy Koufax pitched a three-hit shutout on two days’ rest after his four-hit shutout won Game 5. They lost Game 7 at home to Houston in 2017. Going back, the Brooklyn Dodgers lost Game 7 to the Yankees in 1947, ‘52 and ’56, and beat the Yankees in Game 7 in 1955.
