TORONTO (AP) — Max Scherzer is poised to become the only living pitcher to start two World Series-winning Game 7s.
Baseball will have its ultimate finale 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 between 1998 and 2000.
Los Angeles was expected to launch Tyler Glasnow before it closed a 3-1 victory in game six. The 6-foot-8 right-hander is likely still available, but manager Dave Roberts could also start Shohei Ohtani for two to four innings with three days of rest – something the two-way star hasn’t done since joining Major League Baseball in 2018.
“Those are all possibilities,” Roberts said. “It’s Game 7, so there’s a lot of things people haven’t done.”
Scherzer also started the final Game 7 of the World Series in 2019, boosted by a cortisone injection for an irritated nerve near his neck. Mad Max didn’t have a clean inning and came away trailing by two runs before his Washington Nationals rallied to win 6-2 in Houston.
Only Bob Gibson (1964, 1967, 1968) and Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (1957 and 1958) started multiple game-winning 7s in the World Series. Burleigh Grimes started game seven in 1920 and 1931, but his first came 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 chose his destination in hopes of winning a third World Series ring, following titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. The 18-year big league veteran enthusiastically shared his experience with the Blue Jays.
“He’s not afraid to challenge baserunning, defense, 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 boundaries. He’s not afraid to be curious. He’s not afraid to share things that he’s experienced that maybe I haven’t experienced.”
“There are a lot of teams that don’t like Max Scherzers just because he questions everything,” added teammate Chris Bassitt. “He wants to know every little detail, from positioning on the field to why you’re throwing that pitch to who’s playing here and how we control the days.
“I feel like a lot of organizations don’t like answering 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 did not pitch between March 29 and June 25 due to 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, hampered by neck soreness.
He turned back the clock in the American League Championship Series, winning Game 4 against Seattle after yelling at Schneider during a visit to the mound.
“There’s no better guy on the mound to deal with emotions, all that stuff,” Schneider said. “Max was preparing for Game 7 when he knew he would be pitching Game 3.”
Bassitt was asked by Toronto to help recruit Scherzer, a 2022 New York Mets teammate, and praised general manager Ross Atkins for making the move.
“I told Ross: This is going to be a headache for you, having Max Scherzer. And then I talked to the pitchers 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 who could end up on the IL multiple times, and they don’t understand the true value of having this veteran who 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 grounded out with runners on second and third with no outs in the ninth, Glasnow brought up Ernie Clement on his first pitch, then Andrés Giménez hit a liner to left fielder Kiké Hernández, who caught it and doubled Addison Barger to second base.
Glasnow, acquired from Tampa Bay in December 2023, was sidelined between April 27 and July 9 due to 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 seventh World Series game for the first time – 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 Series in 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. Coming back, the Brooklyn Dodgers lost Game 7 to the Yankees in 1947, 1952 and 1956, and beat the Yankees in Game 7 in 1955.
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