Before Max Scherzer took the mound for his 2024 debut, the Rangers' management had one clear message for him: "Don't be a hero." Despite the hype on ESPN and MLB Network about the "three-time Cy Young Award winner" returning to action, they just needed him to give them a few solid innings. “Got it. Heard, chef,” Scherzer replied with a smirk.
After a longer-than-expected and often frustrating battle with a nerve issue, Scherzer was back. He downed his cooler full of bottled waters, took the mound, and swiftly retired the first 13 batters in a 4-0 Rangers win over Kansas City on Sunday. This game was a hallmark of a red-hot team. The victory marked the Rangers' first sweep of the season, extended their winning streak to four games, and brought their pitchers' scoreless streak to a season-high 22 innings.
Scherzer's performance wasn’t just a comeback—it was historic. He matched Greg Maddux on the all-time strikeout list with 3,371 Ks. Meanwhile, Jose Ureña secured the team's first four-inning save in 19 years. The duo combined for just 99 pitches, the fewest in a Rangers' nine-inning win in a decade. The game, clocking in at a brisk 2 hours and 5 minutes, was the shortest and perhaps sweetest game of the season. We haven’t even mentioned Wyatt Langford's RBI or Josh Smith's homer. Scherzer was the undeniable star.
“It was good to see him out there,” said manager Bruce Bochy afterward. “We weren’t sure exactly where he was at coming off the injured list. It makes you appreciate how good that man is. He was competitive Max at his finest. It’s just a testament to how competitive he is. It’s been a long road back for him.”
The road back was indeed long and fraught with challenges for Scherzer. Traded to the Rangers in July, he missed the last month of the 2023 season with a torn teres major muscle. He hustled back during the playoffs, only to end up with a disk issue that forced him out of a World Series start and required offseason surgery. As he appeared to be making fast progress from that, soreness and tingling in his right wrist radiated up his arm, eventually diagnosed as a nerve issue. This cost him an additional six weeks of recovery time.
Even this week, just as it seemed he had cleared all hurdles, Scherzer experienced a temporary loss of grip strength, pushing his return back a day. That’s when the Rangers reiterated: they didn’t need vintage Scherzer, just a serviceable one. He's turning 40 in a month, and some accommodations were necessary. Getting him back and reinforcing the bullpen by sliding Dane Dunning there was crucial. Scherzer himself acknowledged on Saturday that the nerve issue had made him introspective about his baseball mortality.
However, once on the mound, Scherzer pitched like himself, even if his fastball wasn't what it used to be. His fastball averaged 92.8 mph on Sunday, about a mile less than last year. But he threw 39 of 57 pitches (68.4%) for strikes, placing them exactly where he wanted. “Once I kind of caught some rhythm and was able to get into the flow of the game, I started executing with all my offspeed stuff better,” Scherzer said. “I was working through the rust. My fastball location picked up, as well. When I can do that, I can navigate a lineup.”
Now, the question is whether he can replicate this performance in five days. That's partly why the Rangers pulled him after five shutout innings and 57 pitches. And it's partly why Scherzer didn’t argue, though he did have a typically animated talk with Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux after the fifth. With no off days on the Rangers’ schedule, Scherzer’s next start is set for Friday in Baltimore.
“From a baseball standpoint, everything was telling me to go back out there,” Scherzer explained. “I’m throwing the ball well. Everything says keep going. But you don’t know how you are going to recover from the thumb issue. It’s still there. I do feel some fatigue.
“I just still don’t know how I’m going to recover from this. That’s been the issue at hand here. We felt like we got enough work in and I felt like we’re in a good spot. That was kind of my line. That was as far as we could really go today. Hopefully, my arm responds; doesn’t go backwards. Then we can continue to ramp up and continue to go forward. But yeah, this is still an issue. I’m very aware of my arm and very aware of where I’m at, what I can and can’t do.”
The Rangers don’t need him to be a three-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher anymore. Five crisp innings will do just fine.
It's been a rollercoaster for both Scherzer and the Rangers. For the team, the stops and starts in his recovery have been frustrating. But seeing Scherzer back on the mound, even if not in his vintage form, has been a significant boost. With Scherzer’s return, the team can bolster their bullpen, giving them a more flexible and formidable pitching rotation.
In the end, it's not about being a hero every game. It's about contributing what you can and knowing your limits. For Scherzer, that means pitching smart, not just hard. And for the Rangers, it means appreciating the value of every player's effort, knowing that sometimes, just five innings of solid pitching can be enough to keep the winning streak alive.
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