Looking at Max Scherzer before Game 3 tonight

After what’s seemed like a while, tonight is finally time for “Mad” Max Scherzer to start a World Series game again.

He’s been one of my favorite pitchers ever since I started watching postseason baseball more intently - in 2019. Scherzer was with the Washington Nationals and they were in the World Series against the Houston Astros.

Funny enough, he and George Springer were in opposite dugouts that go-around.

That Nationals team was pretty loaded with names like Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Michael A. Taylor, Howie Kendrick, and Anthony Rendon in fielding positions. Their starting rotation boasted intimidating names at the time, too. Aside from Scherzer, they had Anibal Sanchez and Stephen Strasburg.

Oh, and Daniel Hudson, who spent time with the Blue Jays right before. Not a starter, Hudson was responsible for closing game 7 in 2019, striking out Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley for the final two outs.

The last time Scherzer started a World Series game was actually not that long ago. In 2023, as a member of the Texas Rangers, he started Game 3 - a Rangers’ win.

The catch is that Scherzer only went three innings that time out. The Rangers ended up winning the game, but he surely would have liked to go as far as he could have. He’ll definitely look to stay on the mound much longer tonight, especially if visited by manager John Schneider.

This will be Scherzer’s 32nd postseason game and the 501st start of his career across 18 MLB seasons. At 41, Scherzer looked human through the regular season this year but the postseason seems to bring out his best.

In the 2023 postseason with the Rangers, Scherzer hadn’t pitched beyond the fourth inning. Seeing him go 5 2/3 innings in Game 4 against the Seattle Mariners was encouraging, to say the least.

Mississauga’s Josh Naylor hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. Because he’s Canadian, I was fine with this home run because I knew the Blue Jays’ offense would respond. Which they did to the tune of three runs in the top of the third, right after Naylor’s HR.

Of course, the Los Angeles Dodgers present an entirely different challenge. But there’s no reason to believe Scherzer isn’t up to the task.

Something tells me Schneider might not visit the mound until “Mad” Max Scherzer tells him he’s done pitching tonight.