SEATTLE — Max Scherzer wouldn’t come out. In the fifth inning of his Toronto Blue Jays postseason debut, Scherzer fought to stay in. And he won his first postseason game in six years, with the Blue Jays taking down the Mariners on Thursday in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, 8-2.
As manager John Schneider pushed up the dugout steps in the fifth inning of Game 4 in this American League Championship Series, the 41-year-old right-hander shouted: “No!”
After a quick conversation at the mound, Schneider retreated to the dugout. After the game, The skipper recounted the conversation.
“He started the conversation with ‘I’m good’,” Schneider said with a smile. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And I can’t really … well, you can probably read lips? I told him to execute. I told him that I was going to leave him in, and to execute. And he did.”
The Jays haven’t seen Scherzer’s full fire much this season. He missed time with a thumb injury and struggled in September. He was left off the club’s Division Series roster. But in the midst of the biggest start of his season, Mad Max arrived and delivered.
Max Scherzer was NOT coming out of this game 😳
Facing his next hitter, he picks up the strikeout to end the 5th! pic.twitter.com/EbVoGMOno8
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2025
It was the exact moment Schneider joked about when the Jays first signed Scherzer — the task of having to walk out to the mound and take the fiery righty out in the middle of the inning. But this staredown came on the biggest stage of Toronto’s season, on a night when the pitcher turned back time.
Scherzer had completed two trips through the batting order. He’d allowed just one run, a Josh Naylor solo shot in the second, and the Jays led 5-1. For a starter who hadn’t pitched in three weeks, Scherzer’s line at the time — 4 2/3 innings with one run allowed — was essentially a best-case scenario. But Scherzer fought for more. He wasn’t laughing at the time, but he was able to laugh after the game with the hosts of MLB on FS1 Postgame show.
“It was a two-out situation, and I just checked the board, and I was at 69 or 70 pitches, and my arm felt great,” Scherzer said. “In my head, I was going through my sequence of how I wanted to pitch Randy (Arozarena), thinking through the situation. All of a sudden, I see Schneid’s (John Schneider) coming out, and it kinda caught me off guard. It was one of those moments where I knew I wanted the ball. I knew the situation of the game, and I wanted the ball. And I basically told him that in a little different language.”
The screaming Scherzer earned a few more batters, rewarding his manager with three more outs.
The future Hall of Famer finished off the fifth inning with a strikeout of Julio Rodríguez and returned for the sixth, getting two more outs. His final line of 5 2/3 innings and two earned runs was his best start of this season since Aug. 25, and it was his longest postseason outing since 2021.
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