TORONTO (AP) — Max Scherzer is about to become the only living pitcher to start two winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series.
Baseball will have its ultimate finale Saturday night when Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays play the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are trying to become the first team to win consecutive titles since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees won three in row.
Los Angeles had been expected to start Tyler Glasnow before he closed out a 3-1 victory 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 — which the two-way star has not done since coming to Major League Baseball in 2018.
“They are all possibilities,” Roberts said. “This is Game 7, so there’s a lot of things that people haven’t done.”
Scherzer also started the last World Series Game 7 in 2019, boosted by a cortisone injection for an irritated nerve near his neck. Mad Max 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.
“He’s not afraid to question baserunning, question defense, question offense. 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.”
“There’s a lot of teams that don’t like Max Scherzers just because he questions everything,” teammate Chris Bassitt added. “He wants to know every little detail, from outfield positioning to why you’re throwing this pitch to who is playing here to how we control off days.
“So many organizations, I feel like, don’t like to answer questions. They like you to be a robot and say, yes sir, and go about your business.”
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.”
Bassitt was asked by Toronto to assist in recruiting Scherzer, a teammate on the 2022 New York Mets, and praised general manager Ross Atkins for making the move.
“I told Ross: This was going to be a headache for you, having Max Scherzer. And then I told the pitching staff about him, and I told the coaching staff, like: This is a guy that’s going to stir a lot of pots,” Bassitt said. “So everyone looked at Max, the 41-year-old that might end up on the IL a couple times, and they don’t understand the true value of having that veteran guy that knows what it takes to win, and then he might teach you a thing or two along the way, too.”
Glasnow got three outs on three pitches to save Game 6. After Roki Sasaki was removed with runners at second and third with no outs in the ninth, Glasnow popped up Ernie Clement on his first pitch, then Andrés Giménez hit a liner to left fielder Kiké Hernández, who caught it and doubled off Addison Barger at second base.
Glasnow, acquired from Tampa Bay in December 2023, was sidelined between April 27 and July 9 by right shoulder inflammation. The 32-year-old right-hander has a 1.42 ERA in three starts and two relief outings this postseason.
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 LA Dodgers won their only 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.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
