My favorite player of all time takes the ball tonight for Game 7 of the World Series. That is of course Max Scherzer. I’m nervous for him because he’s clearly not what he once was, at 41 years old. However, he still has that competitive hunger that made him my favorite player a decade ago.
Max Scherzer is one of those players you can’t miss. Between the different colored eyes and his insanely intense attitude, Max Scherzer sticks out like a sore thumb. Your eyes are just drawn to him. Scherzer is everything you expect from your ace, and Nationals fans have quickly learned that.
When Max Scherzer was signed, I wasn’t a kid, but I was still young, 14 years old, when he threw his first pitch. So Scherzer was not my childhood hero, but rather a hero from my adolescence. Mad Max was just an absolute titan. Every time he climbed the hill, you knew there was a chance magic could happen.
Whenever he got through two or three innings without a hit, you always thought this might be one of those special nights. Often it was a special night, whether it was a double-digit strikeout, a complete game or even a no hitter. There was always magic in the air at Scherzday.
As he climbs the hill for what could be the last time, I just wanted to write about some of my favorite Scherzer memories. There are so many, and some I may not even remember off the top of my head. However, I will discuss my favorite moments.
The one game that Max Scherzer most embodied was in 2019, when he pitched with a broken nose. A day before his start, Scherzer was in batting practice when he hit a ball straight out of his face. He was a bloody mess with a broken nose and an eye that was extremely swollen.
It was a midseason start for a man who had won three Cy Youngs in his career. No one would blame Max if he had to miss one or two starts. After all, he had just broken his nose. However, Max Scherzer is built differently.
The next day Scherzer gave us a masterpiece. Excitedly, Mad Max threw harder than usual and gave us some crazy grunts. The swelling around his eye wobbled back and forth after each throw. It was an absolute spectacle and the crowd loved it.
Scherzer threw seven scoreless innings and struckout ten batters. He led the Nats to a win at a time of the season when they desperately needed them. The Nats were trying to bounce back from their infamous 19-31 start, so they needed every win they could get. Scherzer stepped up and delivered with a battered face. That’s exactly the kind of competitor that Mad Max was and still is.
Even though he’s long in the tooth these days, you can still see the fire. He gave Blue Jays fans a taste of one of his signature moves in the ALCS. Scherzer was one out away from ending the 5th inning when Jays manager John Schneider came to the mound. Mad Max was having none of it and ran Schneider off his mound. That moment took me back to the good old days.
That’s one of my favorite things about Max. He is like a predator on the mound and the hitters are his prey. When he was really rolling, Scherzer would stalk the back of the hill as he came out. As he got deeper into the game, he stalked further and further away from the mound. Scherzer, to me, simply has the best mound presence in MLB history.
However, that doesn’t really matter if you’re not among the elite, and boy was Max Scherzer’s elite. When he signed with the Nats for mega money, it raised a lot of eyebrows. The contract was seen as an overpayment at the time. However, Mad Max quickly silenced the doubters.
His first season in DC may be his most memorable. Scherzer had the best two start runs in MLB history against the Brewers and the Pirates. Against Milwaukee, Scherzer flirted with a no-hitter but came up short, allowing Carlos Gomez a bloop hit. However, he did throw a complete game of 16 strikeouts in an absurdly dominant performance.
However, on his next start he outdid himself. He did score a no-hitter against the Pirates. However, it was probably the biggest disappointment of a no-no ever. Mad Max was one shot away from a perfect game before the dastardly Jose Tabata made a throw that wouldn’t have hit him. It was a huge disappointment to see how rare perfect games are. Scherzer bounced back and took out the next man to get his no-no.
However, this was not his last no-hitter of the season. The next one came on the last Scherzdag of 2015. It was a disappointment of a season and the atmosphere was low. The Nats surprisingly missed the playoffs and the biggest story about the team at the time was Jonathan Papelbon’s infamous choking incident.
I remember following this game on my phone at a party. At that party I just stood in the corner watching Max go to work on my phone. He was just mowing down Mets hitters. Scherzer retired 9 Mets in a row.
The lone baserunner that evening came on an error by Yunel Escobar. In an absurdly dominant start, Scherzer picked up his second no-hitter of the season. He really could have had two perfect games if there weren’t a few things he had no control over.
The last great Mad Max moment I want to talk about is the 20 strikeout game. While no-hitters are great, the 20-strikeout game is even rarer. Scherzer’s masterclass against the Tigers is actually the most recent.
This felt different than the no-hitters, because the game was on a razor’s edge. Scherzer gave up a few of his signature solo home runs. The game was 3-2 in the 9th and we had a real chance of losing. Scherzer actually got his 20th strikeout with one batter left, so he had time to get the record. However, the last batter got an out in the game. Even as he makes history, Scherzer was so good you thought he could have done more.
All of these moments are why I’m rooting so hard for Mad Max tonight. You never want to see your heroes fail and be mocked. He’s my favorite player. When I pitched, I wanted to be like Mad Max on the mound. He was the man and I idolized him.
The fastball isn’t what it used to be and he’s making more mistakes, but he still has that fire in the belly. How far can that moxy take him in an intimidating Dodgers lineup? Hopefully it’s good enough to get the job done. Put on that Superman cape again, Mad Max!
#love #letter #favorite #player #time #Max #Scherzer