Max Scherzer is set for his 28th career postseason appearance and first with the Texas Rangers when he returns from injury and pitches Game 3 of the AL Championship Series on Wednesday night against the Houston Astros.
Texas leads the series 2-0, and Scherzer will try putting the reigning World Series champion Astros on the brink of elimination in his first start since Sept. 12, when he was sidelined by a shoulder strain.
“When the first diagnosis was a teres strain, four to six weeks, for one day I was kind of relieved about it,” Scherzer said Tuesday. “And then it’s been a grind to get myself back to this point to be able to go out there and take the ball again. That’s been my mentality this past month.”
Manager Bruce Bochy said Scherzer threw nearly 70 pitches in a simulated game last week, and that will be the initial target Wednesday night.
The 39-year-old, acquired from the New York Mets at the trade deadline, is 7-7 with a 3.58 ERA in the postseason.
Cristian Javier starts this time for Houston, with the 26-year-old right-hander making his fourth start in 16 postseason appearances. He is 5-1 with a 1.91 ERA in playoff games, including five scoreless innings to win Game 3 of the AL Division Series at Minnesota last week.
Meanwhile, the NL Championship Series gets a day off for travel Wednesday after Kyle Schwarber and the Philadelphia Phillies took a 2-0 series lead with a 10-0 thumping Tuesday night.
Schwarber hit two of Philadelphia’s three solo homers off Merrill Kelly, Trea Turner also connected and J.T. Realmuto had two hits and three RBIs as Philadelphia improved to 7-1 in the playoffs, moving closer to a second straight World Series appearance. Aaron Nola tossed three-hit ball and struck out seven in six innings. Game 3 is Thursday at Chase Field.
BETTING FAVORITES
The Rangers are the current betting favorites to win the World Series at +110, followed by the Phillies (+140), Astros (+750) and Diamondbacks (+800), according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
OLD BUT NOT JUST OLD-SCHOOL
Houston’s Dusty Baker and Texas’ Bruce Bochy are the two oldest managers in the majors and are facing off in the ALCS.
Those around the 74-year-old Baker and 68-year-old Bochy say the key to their success isn’t just experience and old-school grit, but also their willingness to adapt in baseball’s analytics age.
Houston owner Jim Crane wasn’t turned off by the fact Baker was 71 when he interviewed to manage the team after A.J. Hinch was fired in the wake of the team’s sign-stealing scandal in 2020. In fact, he believed his reputation and decades in the game were just what the Astros needed to help repair their tattered reputation.
“His experience and the experience of dealing with pressure and players and a lot of different situations — that was very appealing,” Crane said. “He’s a smart guy. Once you visited with him a couple of times, you realized how bright he was, how well he knew the game. And he embraces the analytics, but he also goes old-school. So you’ve got a good blend.”
Rangers GM Chris Young said people asked him about hiring an “old-school manager” when he brought Bochy to Texas this offseason. He pushed back on the assertion that Bochy was old-school simply because he was old.
“I feel the exact opposite,” he said. “I think that if you’re stuck in your ways, you don’t last. And these old managers who have lasted last because they evolve and they’re open-minded and they grow. I think that’s an important attribute to recognize with Boch. He’s been wonderful. I absolutely love working with him.”
UNFAZED FRESHMEN
By at least one measure, this year’s group of rookie hitters had the most productive regular season in MLB history. Corbin Carroll, Evan Carter, Josh Jung and others are keeping that going in October.
There have been 19 rookies with at least one plate appearance this postseason through Tuesday, and that group was hitting a combined .238 with a .789 OPS. Five rookies — Carter, Carroll, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Minnesota’s Royce Lewis and Edouard Julien — had OPS totals over 1.000, and Jung wasn’t far behind at .947. The postseason average for all players was .712.
It’s just the latest example of first-year players taking October by storm. Two of the last three ALCS MVPs — Randy Arozarena in 2020 and Jeremy Peña in 2022 — were rookies. Peña also won World Series MVP.
“I’d say adrenaline-wise, it’s probably felt about the same as the regular season, maybe a tiny bit more,” Carroll said. “For whatever reason I wouldn’t say I’ve gotten too amped up.”
BYE, BYE?
After getting five days off, the top four playoff seeds went a combined 2-6 on their home fields to start the division round.
Two of them were eliminated in three-game sweeps: the Baltimore Orioles and Dodgers. Atlanta, which led the majors with 104 wins during the regular season, was bounced in four games by Philadelphia.
“We thought we did everything possible during the delay, recreated things the best we could,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I don’t know that we could have done anything any better or been more thorough in what we did with our time off to get us ready to play.”
But clearly, the layoff did those clubs little good. Which begs the question: Is it time to say goodbye to the bye?
“It’s not ideal,” Snitker said. “I’m not going to say that’s an excuse for us. I look at the Astros. It didn’t bother them. They kind of kept hitting on all cylinders.
“I never liked two days off as a team or whatever. I think one day is plenty,” he added. “But you know what? It’s what it is, and we’ve got to figure it out.”
PHILLY SPECIAL
Should the Phillies win the World Series, save a spot at the end of the Broad Street parade route for Calum Scott.
The British singer with the pop hit about loneliness and heartbreak insists he’s coming to Philly and wearing the jersey the team sent him last season as a thank you for his part in making “ Dancing On My Own ” a staple of the postseason soundtrack at Citizens Bank Park.
Scott is as amazed as anyone the song has improbably bloomed into a playoff anthem for the Phillies, who won the National League pennant last year before losing to Houston in the World Series.
“They win the World Series, I’m there, man,” Scott said. “I think at that point, you’ll have to hold me back.”
HOW TO WATCH
TBS is broadcasting the NLCS. Fox and FS1 are carrying the ALCS.
POSTSEASON SCHEDULE
League Championship Series: Oct. 15-24
World Series: Oct. 27-Nov. 4
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
