World Series 2023: How intensity drives Rangers’ Max Scherzer،
PHOENIX – BEFORE THE GAME 3 of the American League Championship Series, former President George W. Bush walked around the Texas Rangers clubhouse shaking hands and talking with the ball. After working for a bit, Bush began walking toward the starting pitcher’s locker for the day.
Max Scherzer sat in his chair, staring straight ahead, headphones covering his ears. Sixteen years into his Hall of Fame career, Scherzer’s arm no longer produces the explosive pitches that earned him three Cy Young Awards. Its intensity, however, has not suffered such atrophy. Rather, he grew to compensate for what he might lack physically.
On the days he starts, Scherzer doesn’t exist as he smolders.
“Everyone knows when he wears headphones, you don’t mess with Max,” Rangers outfielder Travis Jankowski said.
Bush, who owned part of the Rangers before becoming president of the United States, understands the dynamics of a clubhouse and how to navigate it properly. Jankowski watched him begin to approach Scherzer, then stop.
“He walks up to him,” Jankowski said, “looks at him … and he says, ‘Yeah, I’ll leave that one out.’ He knows it’s Max Scherzer about to throw a playoff game.”
Tonight, for the 30th time, Max Scherzer will pitch a playoff game. Following a split in Texas, Scherzer will start Game 3 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that drafted him. In previous World Series tied at two, the team that won Game 3 has won the championship 41 of 60 times.
That Scherzer finds himself here at 39 isn’t really surprising. When Texas acquired Scherzer from the New York Mets in a trade in late July, general manager Chris Young saw him as a source of intensity and focus in the clubhouse. When Scherzer speaks, people listen. When he leads, they follow. And when he launches a speech, they enjoy it — even if it means the former president doesn’t get a chance to exchange pleasantries.
“Usually when you see George Bush, you stop and say hello,” Scherzer said. “But I had my headphones on. I’m locked in. We’ll say hello another time.”
SCHERZER ALMOST REMEMBERS everything about his World Series debut 11 years ago, from the temperature in Detroit that night (27 degrees) to the inning in which Buster Posey hit a home run against him (sixth). Even though his Detroit Tigers were swept by the San Francisco Giants, he looks back on this series with almost nostalgia. So much has happened since then: Cy Youngs and mega contracts, getting married, having four children and winning a World Series. Everything was different, including the game.
“I remember when we let the starters in in the seventh inning,” Scherzer said.
That was 31,976 shots ago in the regular season. Since then, Scherzer has started more games (315), pitched more innings (2,030) and struck out more batters (2,538) than anyone else. Only Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom have better ERAs in this decade and more than Scherzer’s 2.86.
If Scherzer seems like an old face talking about the way things used to be, that’s because he is. When Scherzer comes to the mound at home, it’s no coincidence that he warms up to a Ludacris song called “Last of a Dying Breed.”
“He’s arguably the greatest pitcher of all time — he’s in that conversation,” Rangers catcher Austin Hedges said. “You could argue that he is, and there’s a reason, and it’s obvious: the mental ability to react to things, to the adjustments he’s made from a young pitcher to a veteran pitcher to a veteran pitcher. by an older pitcher. Guys don’t do it. just do what he can do at 39 with as many miles on his arm and with all the accolades he has. Why are you even hungry? And he’s the hungriest guy here.
Hunger carried Scherzer to this World Series. After pitching 5⅓ shutout innings on September 12, his shoulder began to bark. Doctors diagnosed muscle strain. The Rangers thought he would miss the remainder of the season, even if they made a deep playoff run.
“It was pretty heartbreaking,” Hedges said. “Then the next day you would have thought it was just his turn to pitch. He’s doing everything he can to rehab and get back. [ready] and also to not change anything when a guy says, “Oh, Max isn’t playing now, he’s just doing his own thing?” He said to me: “OK, how soon can I come back?” » Is it the ALCS? So I will do everything I can to get there. And he did it. He did it, and it’s for the boys.”
Day after day, Hedges saw Scherzer in the trainer’s room doing arm treatments, in the weight room and on the field, running from foul pole to foul pole, all with the ALCS in mind. When he arrived, he was ready. In his first start against Houston, he pitched four innings and allowed five runs. In his second, Scherzer tied the game’s seventh start, and while manager Bruce Bochy’s quick hook limited him to 2⅔ innings in which he allowed two runs, Scherzer left the game saying his arm was felt good and expecting to go further in his next opportunity. .
It comes now. And two days after the Diamondbacks had 16 hits and beat the Rangers 9-1 in Game 2, Scherzer needs to call on his vintage self and generate swings and misses. The Diamondbacks whiffed on just eight of the 69 swings they took in Game 2. Even with Texas’ elite defense, Arizona’s propensity to put the ball in play creates problems.
The question Scherzer needs to answer is: Can he still be that pitcher? The Max Scherzer of 2011 undoubtedly was. Even in his last World Series, which he won with the Washington Nationals in 2019, Scherzer gained momentum. A neck injury canceled his scheduled start for Game 5, and Scherzer was unsure until the day of Game 7 if he could pitch. He did it, for five solid innings, with a fastball that peaked at 98.2 mph and sat at 95.6 mph, nearly 2 mph better than his season average.
“I had a bigger arm. I was able to really throw the ball by people, so I relied on that,” Scherzer said. “I took advantage of the moment to throw 98, 99 as much as I could because I could get the ball from the guys. I don’t have that ability anymore at this age, but that doesn’t mean I can’t catch guys. I just have to get guys out in a different way and I have to throw a little bit more – and I feel like I’m able to do that and understand the moment a little bit better with my experience.”
Banking on experience is the kind of rhetoric offered by aging pitchers, but to suggest that Scherzer is now a soft pitcher would be a misreading. On the list of fewer than two dozen Hall of Famers who pitched more than 150 innings at age 39 or older, only Nolan Ryan carried a fastball with the same juice as Scherzer’s as he entered his 40s. In 152⅔ innings this season, he still struck out 174 batters with a fastball averaging 93.7 mph, a tenth of a mile per hour below his career average. With age came wisdom, the ability to throw more than throw, the need to be smarter than the person standing 60 feet, 6 inches in the batter’s box.
“For me, those moments start to slow down a little bit,” Scherzer said. “I think when you’re younger you feel the pressure more, your mind races, the game speeds up, and a lot of times it’s good and you use that to your advantage. I’ve been in all of them situations where you I can dream. Now, when I’m in those moments, I’m able to slow the game down a little more. I’m able to stay within myself a little better, and I don’t need to try…be a hero and try to throw the ball next to you.”
THE HEART OF DANE DUNNING skipped a beat. He was in the tunnel leading to the Rangers’ shelter when he heard a familiar voice filled with bile.
“Don’t touch it!” shouted Max Scherzer.
Dunning hadn’t touched anything. The 28-year-old right-hander was confused. He looked around and saw Scherzer standing near a table, where more than half a dozen Ranger hats were located. Scherzer is an inveterate jumper on the mound, so he uses a new hat every inning, and a Rangers bat boy had made the mistake of moving the hat with the PitchCom device inserted. He learned the hard way what President Bush understood: The day Scherzer starts, leave the man – and his business – alone.
“I try to stay away,” Dunning said. “I try not to make eye contact.”
In the three months since Scherzer joined the Rangers, his new teammates have adapted to his whims. The four days he doesn’t pitch, he’s the consummate teammate, and the day he does, he’s the ultimate competitor. And if that competitiveness makes people nervous, well, the Rangers see that more as a feature than a bug.
This is a team on a mission to win its first championship since the franchise’s inception in 1961. And while everyone recognizes that Scherzer’s reputation and accomplishments might exceed what his body is now capable of produce, so be it. His role in this clubhouse extends far beyond the days he pitches.
“He’s even more nervous,” Jankowski said. “It’s not nervous energy, it’s just kind of like I’m going to attack, aggressive mentality. That’s my game. That’s what I do. I’m going to go nine scoreless innings .hit the baseball. Here we go.
“We don’t have that type of advantage. Corey [Seager] is very deadpan, emotionless, an incredible player. Mark [Semien]. Even with [Jacob] deGrom. But when you incorporate that, guys can feed off it. »
Better than any of his teammates, Scherzer knows the playoffs and how grueling they can be. In the previous 29 playoff games – 24 starts – his teams are 14-15. He succeeded. He failed. And now it’s at the point where only the rings matter. He has one year left on his contract. He has a limited number of throws in his right arm. The rarity of a World Series appearance forces him to appreciate how lucky this month — and his entire career — has been.
“What you play for is to be a championship-type player, to be part of a team that can win it all,” Scherzer said. “For me to still be here today, what you dream of is to be in this position to be able to go out there and play to win this whole thing.”
