At 41 years old, Max Scherzer doesn’t have much left to prove. Three Cy Young Awards. Two World Series rings. More than 3,400 strikeouts. A résumé that will walk him into Cooperstown the second he’s eligible.
But on Saturday night, under the bright lights of Game 7 in Toronto, Scherzer reminded baseball what his career has always been about: defiance.
Not dominance. Not perfection. Just defiance — against time, injury, and logic itself.
Scherzer went 4.1 innings, allowed one earned run, and struck out three against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game that decided the 2025 World Series.
For four innings, Scherzer held off the defending champions with nothing but his will and whatever was left in that right arm.When manager John Schneider came out to take the ball in the fifth, Scherzer left to a ruckus sold out Rogers Center crowd on their feet, applauding his final outing of the season.
He left having done exactly what Toronto needed: give them a chance.
Scherzer’s start on Saturday was historic in more ways than one. He became the only living pitcher to start two Game 7s of the World Series, joining legends like Bob Gibson and Don Larsen in that exclusive club.
Even after missing nearly three months this season with thumb and neck issues, even after being left off the Blue Jays’ first-round playoff roster, Scherzer found a way to leave his mark on history.
When Scherzer walked off the mound in the fifth inning Saturday night, we weren’t just watching a 41-year-old try to out-pitch Father Time. We were watching a local legend write his final chapter the same way he wrote every other one — on his terms.
