Blue Jays rally to even ALCS as Scherzer returns in vintage form
In the uneasy quiet of the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse after Seattle had seized a 2-0 series lead, Max Scherzer delivered a reminder from a two-decade career: postseason baseball can pivot in an instant. Returning to the mound after a 3 1/2-week layoff with a neck issue, Scherzer stitched together a performance that Perez Walker and teammates called a signature late-season surge, helping Toronto surge back into a best-of-seven tied at 2-2 with an 8-2 win over the Seattle Mariners.
From doubt to dominant four or five innings of relief
Left off the ALDS roster for load management and to rest nagging ailments, Scherzer drew back into the rotation and made his first appearance since Sept. 24. He insisted he wouldn’t blame his late-season struggles on health, but the neck issue had clipped his precision and broke the rhythm of his breaking ball. In his first game action since that September setback, he showed a different gear: five and two-thirds innings of two-run ball on three hits and four walks, striking out five in what marked his 500th big-league outing including the regular season and the playoffs combined.
“I told myself, you’re going to be rusty, you’ve got to find the zone with all your pitches,” Scherzer said after the game. “But with the layoff, my arm felt great. I was able to get through the ball much better. Just for me, it was getting in the flow of the game and executing pitches.”
Early thunder, late poise
The Blue Jays seized momentum early, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa starting the second inning with a double and Andres Gimenez delivering a game-changing homer on a 3-2 slider to put Toronto ahead, 2-1. A Daulton Varsho bases-loaded walk and a George Springer RBI double later in the frame padded the lead to 4-1, and Matt Brash’s wild pitch helped the Blue Jays extend the advantage to 5-1 in the fourth.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. joined the scoring in the seventh with a solo shot, while Gimenez—the ALCS’s standout in the series to date—added a two-run single in the eighth. The Jays’ offense, coupled with Scherzer’s steady work, turned a potential setback into a substantial cushion as Seattle’s offense struggled to mount an answer.
The Scherzer moment, and a manager’s nod
One of the night’s memorable sequences came in the fifth inning when Scherzer, after issuing a leadoff walk, delivered a memorable exchange with Blue Jays manager John Schneider. Sticking to his competitive edge, Scherzer implored to stay in the game, a moment that Schneider embraced on the bench and later called “one of those moments you love to see.”
Schneider explained the dynamic: Scherzer’s on-field intensity is real, and when he’s feeling right, Toronto gets a pitcher who can tilt a game’s trajectory. “He wants to pitch so bad,” the skipper said, adding that the veteran right-hander had earned the chance to fight for himself and deliver when the team needed him most.
Looking ahead: a best-of-three with a familiar rematch
With Scherzer’s performance reasserting his value, the ALCS now shifts back to Toronto for Game 6 and a possible decisive Game 7, should Seattle respond. The rotation reset for Friday’s Game 5 features a rematch worthy of a playoff stage—Kevin Gausman against Bryce Miller—as the series reshapes itself around the discipline and precision Scherzer showed in Seattle.
As Pete Walker, the Blue Jays’ pitching coach, noted, Scherzer’s effort and readiness signaled a broader message: this post-season is a different season within a season, and Toronto’s veteran ace can still deliver when it matters most. The clubhouse that once seemed stunned by an early two-game deficit now carries a quiet confidence that the tide has turned, even if the Mariners still control now the path to Seattle for the next two games.
For the Blue Jays and their fans, the reconfigured series narrative is a reminder that baseball’s postseason is a series of small moments amplified by big stakes. Scherzer’s return wasn’t just a line in the box score; it was a statement that this is far from over, and that the 2024 ALCS still has a few more chapters left to be written.
