7:59pm: Thankfully, Scherzer is not dealing with an arm issue. He says he has a hamstring issue that flared up during the game, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com was among those to cover on Twitter.
5:32pm: The Nationals pulled ace Max Scherzer from tonight’s game after one inning. It’s not yet clear what drove the decision.
Scherzer had a bit of a rough frame, throwing 27 pitches and allowing one run. He had exhibited lower-nineties velocity — not necessarily a bright red flag in its own right, but a step down from his typical heat.
This is a developing story …
Another one bites the dust
Mad Max is mad.
That hurt a lot of dfs players
As he could be hitting the wall now, this is a great time to consider the fact that Max has provided tremendous value for his big dollar deal. So rare in sports, I tip my cap with tremendous deserved respect to mister Max Scherzer for his accomplishments AFTER getting the contract.
Your toast is overdone.
Is it? Wild Bill say it’s not enough.
Wow from Cleveland and has an anti tiger streak. Surprising.
Someone mad their teams pitching peaked before it could get them to the promise land.
I meant real toast. Does nobody here have a sense of humor anymore?
You must not be in a relationship. Humor doesn’t come across via text and similarly some posts very well. All good brother. Thumbs up.
Got 2 exes. My humor tends to be different now. :)
Well said Gary. As a die hard Nats fan I’m praying we can be back in the stands next spring to watch him pitch for what could be his final year in a Nats jersey. Been an absolute pleasure watching him compete these past 5+ seasons.
This can’t be the year we see the end of dominant Max Scherzer. He’s too mad to decline yet.
It’s started at the end of last year… even before he left the game today he wasn’t dominating. He isn’t the same guy anymore. He isn’t a ace. It’s the beginning of the end for the Nats being good
He isnt an ace anymore based on what? The fact he got injured? I’m gonna need to see more than one game in a shortened season where everyone is getting hurt before I can confidently say he is no longer an ace.
Come on, join in… just watch him get to a 2-0 count and start the hysterics
Hopefully he’s okay, he’s so much fun to watch
Just me or are we seeing a crap ton of pitcher injuries compared to normal? Gotta be something about the abrupt stop to original ST, too quick of a comeback, too much/too little throwing during time off, or some combination of all the above right? It’s not like it’s guys faking to duck out with pay. We’ve seen visible velocity changes. Can’t fake that. And you’ve got visibly weird stuff like Mitch Keller’s injury. My best guess would be ramp up to gameplay happened too quickly and bunch of arms are gonna feel the consequences, but curious what others think.
It definitley feels like we’ve seen a ton more injuries. Afterall, like you said, these guys had to pretty much completely halt workouts, training, and almost everyday play for months on end, just to all of a sudden restart. A long layoff and a sudden restart probably isn’t the best when you are putting your body through what an athlete does on a yearly basis, especially for a pitcher who’s consitently throwing in the mid-90’s. It probably also explains why so many players like Yelich, Bellinger, Josh Bell, Rafael Devers, Ronald Acuna, and a handful more are getting off to slow starts.
Slow starts yeah absolutely it just seems that as far as injuries go it’s the pitchers getting absolutely killed
Yeah I agree. If you’ll remember, after the ’94 strike there was the same thing with a lot of pitchers. I think the abrupt start is hard to deal with and weakens the pitchers’ arms, not to mention the lack of practice causing other problems.
Ah that predates my baseball watching by a few years but makes a lot of sense for sure.
I remember that too. But there was no social media/internet or big time fantasy baseball(though I still played, i remember mailing in my lineup every week as a teenager) that would provide that sort of microscope. I would think these guys would still be throwing bullpens on their own though instead of sitting on the couch, no? Unlike a work stopage, which has a different mentality, I assume. Im sure max wasn’t doing nothing but pitchers are creatures of habit and this sort of disruption can’t be good and we are seeing the results…
Yeah that’s all I’m saying. Not that they were doing nothing. In fact maybe they overworked at home for all I know. Just that it seems injuries aren’t happening disproportionately this year.
Are happening
@Stap – Amen, brother!
Hopefully Mad Max is ok, such a great pitcher to watch.
Question, has he done enough to make the HOF when the time comes?
Yes
Definitely.
I know the win total isn’t there, but how do you omit a pitcher with three Cy Youngs?
He’s a no-doubt first ballot HOFer if he retired tomorrow. I don’t think there’s much disagreement about that.
Most important factor is how he compares to his peers. He’s head-and-shoulders above anyone not named Kershaw or Verlander over the last 10+ years.
Add Zach Grienke to that list, and you’re on solid ground. A case could be made for Hamels too, but not a strong one.
baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_pitch_active.sh…
I feel another decent year or two and you have to throw John Lester names into possibly seeing Cooperstown?
Yes to Lester. He’s 9 wins from 200. He is a lot closer than people think.
I think so, yes. His win total won’t be like that of other HOF pitchers, but the game has changed a lot the last 20 years. Benchmarks for the HOF are changing. The Golden standard of 300 wins for a pitcher is gone, just like hitting 500 home runs basically making you a shoe in for the HOF is also gone.
If Roy Halladay was elected into the HOF, I believe Scherzer should.
I hope he’s okay too. I want pitcher like him and Roy Halladay (RIP) to never retire, never pitch bad and just keep being the studs they are but it is true that time waits for no man. Hope this is something small.
A lot of pitchers go through this during the season, none of them are fully ready to play with the long break and short time to get ready again. I hope it’s just tired arm.
Max effort pitcher leaving after 1 inning at age 36.
Hard not to expect the worst here.
How many players will suffer career ending or altering injuries for a season that might not ultimately matter?
Not good.
Nats have been given the worst hand in terms of both celebrating and defending their title.
Huge bummer. Just when good things start to happen with Soto and Stars this happens. Hopefully he misses a start and jumps back in.
They’re saying that there was some doubt he would make the start tonight so it wasn’t just something that showed up the first time in today’s game, probably. Hopefully we’ll know more soon.
So he was banged up going in? I know Max is the type of guy to never pass up the ball, but that’s when the manager needs to step in and let him take a day or two to heal up, this isn’t the point in the season to push hard and turn a minor injury into a major injury.
Hopefully we’ll hear soon what’s going on.
Well there we have it. Dealing with a hammy and it flared up today. Hammy’s can be frustrating but at least it’s not the arm or shoulder.
I think it’s mostly just the general lack of a buildup, pitching at regular season intensity without it just seems to be not working out. So many injuries, most fairly minor… but even those can mess with a pitcher’s normal mechanics, and can lead to much more serious injuries, like Soroka is dealing with now.
Max tweaks his hamstring. Sez he probably will make his next start. In the meantime, check out Metsfan22’s post here for pure comedy gold.: “Max is not an ace”, and much more. The entertainment from the Comments section is sheer wonder.
Last years run killed Max,s arm.
And I slept with Shakira and Emma Stone this week. See? Isn’t it fun to say anything you want without have an ounce of evidence to prove it ?
Darn good week for you so far and it’s only Friday.
Not buying it. Someone call Dr. Andrews, TJ surgery coming up
While we’re at it, we’ll call a seperate doctor to examine your mental health.
Aww, I didn’t know they gave mental patients cell phone to post things. How sweet of them. May your windows always taste like vanilla.
Aw looky everyone, the troll has returned for his feeding. Whazzamatter Eagleboy. Max’s start on Sunday hurt yer lil feelings? Just a little jealous I guess.