Max Scherzer will take the ball in Toronto on Sunday with no decision yet on whether it will be the final start of his career. One day earlier in Detroit, Justin Verlander made his farewell appearance, striking out six over 5 1/3 innings and throwing the last pitch of a career that has run alongside Scherzer’s for nearly two decades.
The result
Verlander’s final outing left him eighth on the Major League career strikeout list with 3,560, just 10 ahead of Scherzer’s 3,550 in ninth. It is a fittingly narrow gap for two pitchers who spent years competing for the same piece of baseball real estate.
Together, the pair has amassed 490 victories, 6,617 1/3 innings and six Cy Young Awards across 40 combined seasons in the majors. Both are expected to reach the Hall of Fame, and their records have remained intertwined since their days atop the Tigers’ rotation.
From 2010 through 2014, they were teammates in Detroit. Verlander won the American League MVP Award and his first Cy Young in 2011, while Scherzer claimed his first Cy Young two years later. In their final season together, Verlander opened the Tigers’ schedule and Scherzer followed him in the second game.
The strikeout standings have drawn plenty of attention as Verlander made one final start and Scherzer remained in line to pitch on the last day of the season. Verlander, however, said the race was never the reason he continued to take the mound.
“I never pitched because I was chasing strikeouts,” Verlander said. “I enjoy the workload. That was not something I had in mind.”
He said the storyline has developed on its own and added that both pitchers are simply competitive enough to want the ball whenever they are able to pitch.
Scherzer was not interested in presenting Sunday as a chase for his former teammate, either.
“It has nothing to do with that,” Scherzer said with a smile. “People will make it a big story, but that is not why I’m pitching tomorrow. It’s about competing and enjoying it.”
Still, Scherzer has always carried an appreciation for the game’s long record book. Earlier this season, when he moved past Walter Johnson and into the top 10, he spoke at length about Johnson, whose final big league game came in 1927. He understands the significance of sharing this late-career moment with Verlander.
“It’s amusing how it has worked out,” Scherzer said. “After all these years, we’re right next to each other. I hope he goes out and strikes out everybody today.”
The rotation next
Scherzer, 42, is scheduled to start Sunday in Toronto. He has not said whether he will retire afterward, leaving open the possibility that he has another season—or more—left to pitch.
Verlander, 43, spent much of this season on the injured list with hip and hamstring trouble before returning for Saturday’s final start. Scherzer has also worked through a difficult injury year, dealing with issues involving his thumb, forearm, back and ankle.
Scherzer said he had exchanged texts with Verlander in the day before the Detroit start and wanted to watch his old teammate’s last appearance.
“I know he is at the end of his run, and I was looking forward to seeing him pitch,” Scherzer said. “For everything he has accomplished, it was a major moment. I was glad he could get back out there one more time.”
If Scherzer decides Sunday is his own final turn, the two longtime rivals could become Hall of Fame classmates in five years. If he keeps pitching, he may yet close the 10-strikeout gap or pass Verlander altogether. Either way, their names belong close together: two aces who shared a Detroit clubhouse, a generation of big-game assignments and now neighboring spots in the game’s strikeout history.
