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New Max Scherzer Interview Tips His Hand on His Free Agency Plans
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- New Max Scherzer Interview Tips His Hand on His Free Agency Plans
Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
In a stunning interview on Tuesday with Toronto -based podcast hosts, Blue Jays free agent pitcher Max Scherzer seemed to tip his hand on his plans in free agency. And it sounds like he'll be staying north of the border.
The interviewers, Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill, asked Scherzer if he had some "unfinished business" with the Jays, who came up one run short of a World Series championship this year. "It definitely feels like that," was how Mad Max started his answer. And it got even better from there.
"For us, the way we look at it… Usually, when you have a crushing defeat like that, there's kind of like a goat that you always wanna turn to. But in our clubhouse, we don't feel like that one bit. We feel… I'd want everybody in that exact same situation, playing the exact same ball… You have the whole team saying, 'No, we don't have a problem, we wanna go back out there!' We are actually proud of the way we played. We thought the baseball gods got it wrong. We did everything right.
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"So, yeah, there's that notion that there's some unfinished business, yeah. We know that we are a championship-calibre team. And we wanna do that… From our standpoint, we just want everybody back… We just know the clubhouse works, and we know how well we play together. It's such a good thing that we had there in '25, that we wanna do it in '26."
Count 'em up: That's 18 "we"s, and a couple of "our"s. Not to mention the flat-out admission that "we wanna do it (again) in '26."
Scherzer sounds very committed to Blue Jays
Of course, Scherzer is 41 now, and an 18-year veteran, so he does understand how the business part of baseball works. He mentioned that, noting that there will be some changes to the team. It's inevitable. But it sure sounds like he plans on being a part of the Toronto Blue Jays "running it back", if you will, in 2026.
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There were reports earlier this month that seemed to indicate that a move to San Francisco might be in the cards for the three-time Cy Young winner. But this interview certainly shines a new light on his potential plans this offseason.
Scherzer signed a one-year deal worth $15.5 million with the Blue Jays for 2025, but had his share of injury troubles and struggles during the regular season. He finished 5-5 in 17 starts with a 5.19 ERA, with an 82:23 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 85 innings.
But come the postseason, he was the old Mad Max, showing his grit and determination on the mound, even refusing his manager's call to come out of the game in one viral moment in the ALCS.
Overall in the playoffs, Scherzer posted a 3.77 ERA with a 1.26 WHIP. The Blue Jays seemed to have control in Game 7 of the World Series against the LA Dodgers , but came up short of victory by fractions of an inch a couple of different times in a wild 9th inning, and eventually fell in 11 innings.
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