PHILADELPHIA - Max Scherzer kept the same old rhythm on the mound Saturday: ball back into the glove, a quick flick to his right hand, eyes down, glove to his face, arms swinging, then the delivery. On that sixth-inning strikeout of Kyle Schwarber, he stepped into a different tier of baseball history.
With that punchout in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 7-5 extra-innings win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Scherzer passed Walter Johnson for 10th on MLB’s all-time strikeout list, reaching 3,516. Only one other active pitcher sits in the top 10 with him, Justin Verlander, and Scherzer may be the last arm to get there.
“There are some really big-time names there,” Scherzer said, “and so to now be a part of that group, it’s special.”
The milestone has been a long time coming. Scherzer’s first career strikeout came on April 29, 2008, against Michael Bourn of the Houston Astros, and 6,675 days later he has stacked up three Cy Youngs, two World Series titles, eight All-Star selections and stops with seven different MLB teams. At this point, the Cooperstown case has long since been settled.
But Toronto has been only a small slice of a massive career, and not exactly the sharpest one. By ERA, it has been his least successful stint.
By regular-season wins, it is tied with his Texas Rangers run for the fewest he has had with any franchise. And after the historic strikeout, the night turned quickly: Scherzer gave up back-to-back homers and exited the game.
The old ace still flashes, but he is not the untouchable version anymore.
Even so, the ceiling remains high every time he takes the ball. Some nights bring the version that can stare down Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 of the World Series.
Other nights bring the firebrand who barked his manager off the mound in the American League Championship Series. On Saturday, it was Schwarber freezing on a four-seam fastball that pushed Scherzer into the top 10.
“We’re talking top-10 anything in baseball, you’re lucky to be a small part of that,” manager John Schneider said.
The accomplishment lands even harder in today’s game. With elbow issues piling up across the sport and starters going fewer innings than they used to, climbing that leaderboard has become a much steeper hill.
Scherzer is second among active pitchers in strikeouts behind Verlander. Chris Sale is third among active starters, but he is still nearly 800 strikeouts short of the top 10 and is 37 years old.
Logan Webb, the active strikeout leader among starters younger than 30, is at 1,095.
“Until MLB and the owners actually want to incentivize starting pitching and want to have starters pitch deeper into ballgames, it’s going to be probably a difficult thing to reach that milestone for somebody else,” Scherzer said. “But I think it’ll be done because I think eventually we’re going to look at it, and we’re going to want more starting pitching in the game.”
For now, though, the way the sport is headed makes Scherzer’s place look even more likely to stand alone. Saturday’s called strike on Schwarber may end up being the last one needed to move the top-10 list.
The night also brought a boost for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who returned after missing three games and homered to deep left field. Guerrero has been dealing with a hamstring issue for weeks, but the rest he got this week was his first extended break. He said the pain spiked Tuesday in Houston, which led to an MRI that showed inflammation.
“It was just a little bit of inflammation,” Guerrero said through team interpreter Hector Lebron. “Just a little bit.
But I can go. I can play with it like that.”
If he can keep that hamstring under control and still turn on pitches the way he did Saturday, Toronto’s offense has a chance to keep moving in the right direction. Guerrero remains the engine of that lineup, and now his legs may be just as important as his bat.
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