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The first pitch in the biggest game in Toronto Blue Jays history, live on FOX, will be thrown by future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer.
The 41-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Jays prior to the season for what may or may not have been a farewell tour. Suddenly it has become much more than that.
What could have started as one last season to take it all in has turned into one of the biggest starts of Scherzer’s career.
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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer throws during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Scherzer has nothing left to achieve. He is a three-time Cy Young Award winner with two World Series titles, a lifetime 3.22 ERA and 3,489 strikeouts. He will undoubtedly walk into Cooperstown in his first year on the ballot.
But none of that will be a thought for Scherzer, or any Blue Jays fan, at 8:08 p.m. ET.
This will be Scherzer’s 28th postseason start – his sixth in the winner-take-all, sixth in the Fall Classic and second in Game 7 of a World Series (also 2019 with the winning Washington Nationals).
Scherzer will soon become the fourth pitcher in MLB history, joining Bob Gibson (1964, ’67, ’68), Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ’58), to start multiple winner-take-all Fall Classic Game 7s.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer reacts to a strikeout against the Seattle Mariners during the fifth inning of Game 4 of baseball’s American League Championship Series in Seattle, Washington, on Oct. 16, 2025. (David J. Phillip/AP Photo)
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It’s safe to say Saturday’s outing will be matched only by that start against the Houston Astros six years ago. That game, he gave the Nats five innings of two-run ball, relying on late home runs from Anthony Rendon, Howie Kendrick and Juan Soto, and Patrick Corbin and Daniel Hudson out of the bullpen to preserve the victory.
That outing was in a hostile Houston environment. On Saturday, he will pitch in front of a Blue Jays home crowd hungry for their first title since 1993.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer looks to his dugout during the sixth inning of Game 4 of baseball’s American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners in Seattle, Washington, on Oct. 16, 2025. (Lindsey Wasson/AP Photo)
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Scherzer has yet to announce his intentions for the future. But if Saturday goes the way a Hollywood screenwriter would have it (ironically, he’ll be facing his former Los Angeles Dodgers), no one could blame him for riding off into the sunset on such a high note.
In all likelihood, Scherzer’s Hall of Fame plaque will feature him in a National League cap, as that’s where he’s spent most of his 18-year career. But if all goes as he hopes, he’ll be a Toronto hero forever, even with a short tenure.
