Max Scherzer ‘fully healthy’ for crack at World Series ring with Blue Jays

LOS ANGELES — Max Scherzer has pitched for five teams since 2019, three of which reached the World Series.

The former Mets co-ace has already earned rings with the Nationals and Rangers over that stretch. If Scherzer is going to add a piece of Blue Jays hardware to his collection, it would behoove him to contribute Monday night, when he is scheduled to face the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series.

Nobody appreciates the moment more than the 41-year-old Scherzer, even after all his October battles. Scherzer will be starting a World Series game for a fourth franchise — he also pitched for the Tigers in their 2012 series loss to the Giants.

It’s a contrast to his Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, who needed until this season — his 36th in a major league uniform — to reach the World Series.

“You just think about all, throughout your whole life all the different things that have unfolded, and just so fortunate to have another crack at this,” Scherzer said. “There are so many great players that have never gotten to a World Series, so many great players where they only have one World Series. With Donnie on our team, you know, he’s gone his whole career and now this is his first moment.”

It’s a World Series in which a starting pitcher has already left a mark. In Saturday’s Game 2, Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto fired his second straight complete game, retiring the final 20 batters to bring the series tied 1-1 to Chavez Ravine.

The Dodgers are set to deploy Tyler Glasnow, part of a four-headed monster in this rotation of aces that also includes Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani in addition to Yamamoto.

Scherzer, who arrived last winter on a one-year contract worth $15.5 million, credited his former Mets teammate Chris Bassitt (also a Blue Jays pitcher) for his decision to head north of the border.

“[Bassitt] has a really good pulse on what this clubhouse and team needed,” Scherzer said. “And we were talking kind of throughout the whole offseason and when things started moving in my direction, it just kind of seemed to all click, that getting back with him would be a great thing for me and that this was a team that could really go somewhere. They just needed to make a few adjustments. But he was really kind of the eyes and ears of what this team could be.”

Scherzer started 17 games for the Blue Jays this season and pitched to a 5.19 ERA. He spent almost three months early in the season on the injured list rehabbing from a right thumb injury.

And after a six-start stretch to close the regular season in which he pitched to a 9.00 ERA, there were questions about where he might fit in the postseason (he was not utilized for the ALDS). But Scherzer emerged big in Game 4 of the ALCS against the Mariners, allowing two earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings for the win.

Scherzer credited his three weeks off between starts for revitalizing him.

“It was really about getting fully healthy, getting over all the little ailments I had so that I could be getting through the ball again and throwing the ball as well as I can,” Scherzer said. “So yeah, I used that time in the division series to get fully healthy and it felt like that benefited me. So ready to go out there and compete in Game 3.”

Scherzer’s last World Series start was for the Rangers in Game 3 in 2023 against the Diamondbacks. He was removed after three shutout innings because of back tightness.

But Scherzer said the disappointment of that outing doesn’t play into his mindset for Monday.

“I [won’t] be looking backwards at all for any motivation,” he said. “I have plenty of motivation. I’m here to win and I’ve got a clubhouse full of guys who want to win too. So we’re a great team and that’s the only thing I need to think about.”