“Blue Jays are cooked!” “Lol, grasping at straws” - Fans lose it as Toronto taps Max Scherzer for must-win Game 4 ALCS

The Toronto Blue Jays announced that future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer will start ALCS Game 4 against the Seattle Mariners, who are already up by two games in the series. While Game 3 is yet to be played, if Toronto loses that game in Seattle, Game 4 automatically becomes an elimination game for them.

Scherzer has plenty of postseason experience, but the 41-year-old hurler hasn't pitched in this stage in two years. The last time he did was with the Texas Rangers back in 2023.

The above development hasn't sat right well with fans who believe if the Blue Jays are going to trust Scherzer to push the series back to Toronto, their postseason is already doomed.

"Jays are cooked," one fan wrote. "lol. Grasping at straws," another fan added. "against George Kirby, pitching 2.70 in the postseason so far," one fan added a stat of rival pitcher. "Is it a rule in BB to announce important stuff like those days in advance 🤷 As a coach I'd want to wait until gametime to submit my starters...have some element of surprise and force coaching on the fly opposed to 2 days of school classes to learn a pitcher...ya had all season" one fan think the Blue Jays revealed their cards too soon. "Love how fast baseball postseason is. Like 3 days between “da Yankees loseee” and jays getting swept" one fan already knows Blue Jays' future. "Blue Jays did themselves in. Pitching just can’t operate at the required level. Either too inexperienced (Yesavage, who still did amazing all things considered) too hurt (Bassitt), or too old (Scherzer)" one fan gave honest opinion.

Blue Jays skipper John Schneider names Max Scherzer Game 4 starter

Max Scherzer had started only 17 games in 2025. He has posted a 5.19 ERA to go along with 1.29 WHIP. Both are career-worst averages. As such, Scherzer didn't have a good year from any angle as he pitched only 85.0 innings.

Despite that, Blue Jays manager John Schneider entrusts him to come good when called upon in Game 4.

“I’ve talked about him preparing all year,” Schneider said Tuesday. “So I think keeping things normal for him. Going back to you want to see normalcy. So you trust that he’s going to be prepared and go out and give everything he has and hopefully rise to the occasion of a big moment. He’s a Hall of Famer for a reason. So you feel good about handing him the ball and watching him go to work.”

It remains to be seen if Scherzer still has enough in the tank to become his former dominant self and keep the Blue Jays alive in the ALCS.

Edited by Krutik Jain