Max Scherzer of the Blue Jays will start Game 7 after the Dodgers

Max Scherzer is set to become the only living pitcher to have started two winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series.

sarah

Nov 1, 2025 - 20:43

Max Scherzer of the Blue Jays will start Game 7 after the Dodgers

Toronto Blue Jays veteran pitcher Max Scherzer, shown in the dugout during Game 3, will start the winner-take-all Game 7 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Toronto on Saturday night.

Baseball's finale will take place Saturday night when Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are trying to become the first team to win three consecutive titles since the New York Yankees won three from 1998 to 2000.

Los Angeles was expected to start Tyler Glasnow before pulling out a 3-1 victory in the sixth game. The 6-foot-8 right-hander is still likely to be available, but manager Dave Roberts could also use Shohei Ohtani for a start for two to four innings after three days' rest—something the two-way star hasn't done since arriving in Major League Baseball in 2018.

"These are all possibilities," Roberts said. "It's the seventh game, so there are a lot of things people haven't done."

Scherzer also started in the seventh game of the 2019 World Series, where he received a cortisone injection for an irritated nerve near his neck. His innings didn't go well, and he left the field after five innings, trailing by two runs, but his Washington Nationals won 6-2 in Houston.

The LA Dodgers defeated the Blue Jays 3-1 in Game 6 to advance to the decisive World Series.

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Only Bob Gibson (1964, '67, '68) and Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and '58) have started multiple times in a winner-take-all Game 7 in the World Series. Burleigh Grimes started in Game 7 in 1920 and '31, but his first was in a best-of-nine series.

Toronto signed the 41-year-old Scherzer to a one-year contract worth $15.5 million. The three-time Cy Young Award winner chose his destination in hopes of winning a third World Series ring, after winning titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. The 18-year big league veteran has eagerly shared his experience with the Blue Jays.

"He's not afraid to question baserunning, defense, and offense. He still thinks he's the team's best baserunner since his days with the Nationals," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Friday. "He's not afraid to push boundaries. He's not afraid to be curious. He's not afraid to share things he's gone through that I probably haven't."

In 17 games this season, Scherzer had a 5-5 record and a 5.19 ERA. The eight-time All-Star didn't pitch between March 29 and June 25 due to a sore right thumb, and then, bothered by neck pain, posted an 0-3 record in his last five starts before Toronto was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

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During the American League Championship Series, he turned back time when he won the fourth game against Seattle, securing the victory after scolding Schneider on the field.

"There's no better player on the field than him when it comes to handling emotions and situations," Schneider said. Max was preparing for the seventh game, even though he knew he would be pitching in the third.

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Toronto will play a seventh World Series for the first time – the Blue Jays won their only championships in six games in both 1992 and '93.

The LA Dodgers won their only World Series Game 7 in Minnesota in 1965, when Sandy Koufax pitched a three-hit shutout on two days' rest after winning Game 5. They lost Game 7 at home against Houston in 2017. They defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, '52, and 1956, and the Yankees in Game 7 in 1955.