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EspañolToronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer is back with the team on a one-year, $3-million, incentive-laden deal, and he couldn’t be more excited.
“Obviously, Toronto was definitely a team that I wanted to come back to and I absolutely loved all the guys and what we did last year,” Scherzer said Thursday on Blair and Barker. “It was a great fit for not just myself, but my family as well.”
Family wasn’t the only factor that played into Scherzer opting to return to the Jays, but considering the letter his eight-year-old daughter wrote to him in December, imploring him to stay with Toronto, it was hard for the 41-year-old not to re-up with the Blue Jays when the opportunity arose.
Coming into last season, Scherzer said he knew that the Blue Jays were a class organization from friend and former Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt, but going through the 2025 season, his expectations were exceeded.
“I had a good feeling of what it was going to be,” he said. “When you actually get to see it up close and personal and live it, it’s better than you can ever dream of. That’s one of the things they do so well, is how they take care of the families.
“And as much as it was the team, it’s the guys in the clubhouse, too. The guys and the families and all the wives and the kids. At the end of the day, that’s what really makes it, is the clubhouse. And so, it’s both and everybody gets a pat on the back for that. Everybody gets an A-plus in that regard.
“And so that’s what made it so great for my family as well. They enjoyed every little moment of it that goes into it. And it’s definitely a challenge with my kids at the ages that they are but, overall, it’s a net positive. They love coming to the park, love coming to the games. And when Brooke writes that letter in December. I mean, you just melt when you see that.”
After signing with the Blue Jays in the 2024-25 off-season, Scherzer made an immediate impact on the organization, serving as a key veteran figure during the team’s run to the World Series.
While he battled injury through the 2025 regular season, Scherzer stepped up to deliver three crucial post-season starts. He worked 14.1 playoff innings, racking up 11 strikeouts with a 3.77 ERA. He also took the ball in Game 7 of the Fall Classic and held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run over 4.1 innings.
Manager John Schneider told reporters Thursday in Dunedin, Fla., that Scherzer still needs to pass a physical to complete the deal. However, he is expected to join the team sometime this weekend and has already been throwing bullpens, per Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.
In addition to speaking about his return to the Jays, Scherzer also spoke briefly about the introduction of the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system that’s being introduced this season.
He appears to be willing to give the new system a wait-and-see approach, but seems to have some concerns about how everything will go.
“I’ve really got to see how this unfolds and how the umpires react to it,” he said. “I think we’re going to see the umpires kind of call a different zone. They’re going to be scared to call strikes because they don’t want to get embarrassed by the ABS. So, I’ve got to see how the umpires react to this, then judge it. …
“It’s something to definitely pay attention to. I feel like there’s gonna be some drastic changes within the game. There’s gonna be some unintended consequences of bringing an electronic strike zone into the game. You can test everything out at the minor-league level all you want until it’s actually in the Big Leagues. Big League guys are gonna make different types of adjustments than the minor league guys.”
