When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline, they knew he would help anchor the rotation, but no one could have expected what’s come of it.
Since July 30, the day the Dodgers made the deal official, Scherzer has been the most effective pitcher in baseball by a good margin. Across 51 innings pitched, the right-hander has posted a 0.88 ERA, 1.26 FIP, 37.7 strikeout rate, 2.6 walk rate and 2.6 WAR.
Scherzer’s dominance has also placed him back into discussions to win the National League Cy Young Award in what is becoming a very crowded competition.
But besides for being great compared to his peers this season, Scherzer is also having a historic showing with L.A. Since 1913 when ERA became an official stat, no starting pitcher has ever posted a lower ERA in their first eight games pitched with one team.
Max Scherzer has a 0.88 ERA in 8 starts with the Dodgers with the team winning all of his starts.
No pitcher since earned runs became official in 1913 has ever had a lower ERA in their 1st 8 games pitched with a team, all starts. pic.twitter.com/mlvbECsksw
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 13, 2021
Scherzer’s performance for L.A. also netted him the NL Player of the Week honors for Sept. 6-12 after he went 2-0 with just one unearned run allowed, 22 strikeouts over 16 innings pitched and held opponents to a .127 batting line.
In addition to the historic dominance, Scherzer did more to sketch his place into history by becoming the 19th player in history to strike out 3,000 hitters. He also became the second-fastest pitcher in history to reach the milestone.
Scherzer hopes to see Kershaw’s 3,000th strikeout
Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw, who currently has 2,658 career strikeouts, are both scheduled to become free agents after the season. That of course makes it a possibility that one or both of them are wearing a different uniform next season.
However, there is a strong chance Kershaw returns to the Dodgers as he is one of the franchises’ all-time greats, and it sounds like Scherzer wants to continue pitching with Kershaw.
“Hopefully I’m here to be able to watch his 3,000th as well,” Scherzer said. “Obviously with what he’s done in his career, he should be able to reach that milestone, and it would be a special one for him as well.”
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