Max Scherzer is about to become the only pitcher alive to start two winner-take-all Game 7s of the World Series.
Baseball's finale takes place Saturday night when Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays take on the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000.
Los Angeles was expected to start Tyler Glasnow before winning 3-1 in Game 6. The 6-foot-8 right-hander is likely still available, but manager Dave Roberts could also start Shohei Ohtani for two to four innings on three days' rest — something the two-way star hasn't done since coming to Major League Baseball in 2018.
“All of this is possible,” Roberts said. “This is Game 7, so there are a lot of things people haven't done yet.
Scherzer also started Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, aided by a cortisone injection into 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 Burdett and Don Larsen (both 1957 and 1958) have started multiple winner-take-all Game 7s of the World Series. Burley Grimes started Game 7s in 1920 and 1931, but his first game was in a best-of-nine series that year.
Toronto gave Scherzer, 41, a one-year contract worth $15.5 million. The three-time Cy Young Award winner chose the destination in hopes of winning a third World Series ring after titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. The 18-year major league veteran eagerly shared his experience with the Blue Jays.
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“He's not afraid to question the baserunner, question the defense, question the offense. He still believes he's our best baserunner on the team since he played in 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 talk about what he's been through that maybe I haven't.”
Scherzer went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in 17 starts this season. The eight-time All-Star didn't play between March 29 and June 25 because of inflammation in his right thumb, then was left out of Toronto's lineup for the first round of the playoffs after going 0-3 in his last five starts, bothered by neck soreness.
He turned back the clock during the American League Championship Series, winning Game 4 against Seattle after calling out Schneider during a visit to the mound.
“There’s no better guy to handle emotions and everything,” Schneider said. “Max was preparing for game seven when he knew he would pitch game three.”
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Toronto will play Game 7 of the World Series for the first time since the Blue Jays won their only championship in six games in 1992 and 1993.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their only Game 7 of the World Series in Minnesota in 1965 when Sandy Koufax pitched a three-hit homer 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 team. Yankees in Game 7 in 1955.
