Max Scherzer, the pitcher who has secured the Cy Young Award on three occasions, has reached an accord to rejoin the Toronto Blue Jays, an insider verified to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez that Wednesday.
As Scherzer has continued his pitching career into his fifth decade of life, he has progressively missed playing time due to ailments. The 41-year-old right-handed hurler completed a grand total of 85 innings during the standard season for the Blue Jays in 2025, subsequent to amassing merely 43⅓ for the Texas Rangers in 2024.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider extolled Scherzer’s fierce drive and meticulous readiness. He performed sufficiently to secure three crucial appearances for Toronto in the postseason — specifically in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, where he navigated initial-inning difficulties to suppress the Seattle batting order, and in Games 3 and 7 of the World Series.
Half a decade after he delivers his last fastball, Scherzer is set to give a discourse in Cooperstown, and his admittance into the Hall of Fame is widely expected to be without dissent or nearly so. Scherzer has placed among the top five contenders in Cy Young Award voting on eight occasions. He possesses an overall professional record of 221 wins and 117 losses with a 3.22 ERA, and his career Adjusted OPS+ of 131 is comparable to that achieved by Sandy Koufax.
Scherzer was an initial-round selection in the draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2006, making his major league debut two years thereafter. His pitching motion at that period attracted considerable examination, owing to how he whipped his head to the left upon releasing the pitch.
Arizona officials considered the prospect of converting him into a relief pitcher, but the Diamondbacks instead transferred him to the Detroit Tigers in a multi-club exchange involving three teams with the New York Yankees. While with the Tigers, Scherzer thrived, achieving an 82-35 record over five seasons while solidifying his reputation as among baseball’s elite hurlers.
He inked a deal with the Washington Nationals following the 2014 season, and both he and Stephen Strasburg assisted them in securing a title in 2019. Throughout his professional tenure, he has amassed almost $370 million in earnings, indicative of his mastery from the pitcher’s plate.
MLB Network was the initial outlet to disclose Scherzer’s arrangement with Toronto.
ESPN’s Buster Olney provided input for this article.