DETROIT -- Who could have dreamt this three months ago?
Step in your time machine and press the buttons for late April. The Blue Jays looked completely unspectacular, hovering below .500 and playing an unthreatening brand of baseball. Max Scherzer, at the time, was in the early weeks of a three-month stint on the IL for a thumb issue he just couldn’t shake.
Now, look at them. Sunday's 10-4 loss to the Tigers in Detroit that unraveled in the late innings was a rare dud for this team, but they can absorb the odd one. Having the best record in baseball (63-43) allows you to look on the bright side sometimes, and Scherzer’s best performance in a Blue Jays uniform can only leave the organization more optimistic about what the stretch run and October can look like. Besides, that’s all that matters now.
“Even going back to when we signed him, this was the ceiling, that he can be a top-of-the-rotation type of guy,” said manager John Schneider. “He’s worked really hard to get here.”
Detroit is where it all really started for Scherzer, who celebrated his 41st birthday Sunday. Traded to the Tigers after pitching his first two seasons for the D-backs, Scherzer grew into a star in this city and won his first AL Cy Young Award here in 2013. Scherzer’s kids, who were with him in Detroit this weekend, weren’t even born when their dad was doing all of that.
It looks like there’s still some magic left.
Scherzer struck out a season-high 11 batters over seven innings while all three runs against him came on a big swing from Gleyber Torres in the third. In fact, that homer scored the only baserunners Scherzer allowed. He hammered through the Tigers with a fastball that averaged 94.1 mph, an extremely encouraging number for Scherzer, and his slider can still turn hitters inside-out.
Scherzer, though, is always his own biggest critic. Immediately, he pointed to what “sucked” from the performance -- that third inning and the Torres home run -- before taking a long circle back to a few things he might be able to see as positives … in a few days.
“That’s the inning that’s going to keep you up late, and you’re going to lose sleep over that. This is the Major Leagues. You’ve got to be executing at all times,” Scherzer said. “That’s frustrating. Outside of that, I wanted to make some adjustments, and I did. I felt like I was executing outside of that.”
Now in his 18th MLB season, Scherzer didn’t come to Toronto for one last paycheck. Baseball isn’t Scherzer’s job, it’s his obsession. He’s addicted to the mound, to the adrenaline and to winning. If he’s pitching like this, it looks like Scherzer can be a real part of that winning as the Blue Jays steamroll their way through this stunning 2025 season. Widely projected as a middle-of-the-pack team coming into the year, they’ve shot to the top of baseball and are only gaining momentum after taking three of four from the mighty Tigers.
Across the diamond, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch goes way back with Scherzer, all the way to his first job in baseball with the D-backs after his playing days ended.
"A lot stands out. And the competitiveness of Max, the intellectual curiosity that he had as a young player that I had in the Minor Leagues when I was a farm director, and then got a chance to manage briefly, and now competed against him,” Hinch said. “Looking back, there are always traits that are like, 'Man, he was great then.' He had a foundation for a career to build, but it's been built over the course of 18 years, and that takes a lot to get to the level that he is at, where he is a future Hall of Famer. And he's still pitching at a high level."
Scherzer doesn’t care about July, though. He warned to not count these chickens before they hatch, but this is all moving in one very obvious direction.
“You don’t get a ring for the end of July,” Scherzer said. “This is about being good in October, but you’ve got to get there. You’ve got to play good ball. We’ve got two months left.”
Scherzer isn’t just part of the ride. He can still be a headliner for the team that’s suddenly one of the best stories in baseball.