With their season potentially on the line, the Toronto Blue Jays are turning to a three-time Cy Young winner.
Max Scherzer will start Game 4 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday, manager John Schneider announced on Tuesday.
It will be Scherzer’s first start of this postseason.
The Blue Jays trail the series 2-0. Shane Bieber will start for Toronto in Wednesday’s Game 3 (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT).
Scherzer, 41, posted a 5-5 record with a 5.19 ERA and 1.294 WHIP over 17 starts during the regular season. He’ll share the mound with Mariners starter Luis Castillo (11-8, 3.54 ERA), who has yet to allow a run over two appearances and six innings this postseason.
He struggled to close the season, allowing 24 hits, 17 earned runs and four home runs in just 15 September innings (four starts), and was left off the ALDS roster.
However, Scherzer’s postseason track record is sparkling, with a 3.78 ERA and 171 strikeouts over 143 career innings. Most recently, he started two games during the Texas Rangers’ 2023 World Series run (9.2 innings, 11 hits, seven runs).
“I’ve talked about him preparing all year,” Schneider said Tuesday, a day before the series resumes with Toronto trying to overcome a 2-0 series deficit. “So I think keeping things normal for him. Going back to you want to see normalcy. So you trust that he’s going to be prepared and go out and give everything he has and hopefully rise to the occasion of a big moment. He’s a Hall of Famer for a reason. So you feel good about handing him the ball and watching him go to work.”
Now, the likely future Hall of Famer is set for his first career playoff start as a Blue Jay — and, regardless of the Game 3 outcome, his team’s back will be against the wall.
