{"id":102691,"date":"2025-06-23T14:16:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=102691"},"modified":"2025-06-23T14:16:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:16:34","slug":"blue-jays-proven-ace-returning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/23\/blue-jays-proven-ace-returning\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Proven Ace Returning to Lineup Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Blue Jays will be getting their offseason ace, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/29\/blue-jays-max-scherzer-leaves-game-right-lat-soreness\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Max Scherzer<\/a>, back from the injury list. Scherzer hasn&#8217;t pitched since March 29th. Scherzer&#8217;s return comes at a pivotal point, as the Blue Jays are currently four games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Scherzer was signed as a free agent during the offseason and was brought in to help stabilize the Blue Jays&#8217; rotation. The Blue Jays&#8217; strategy of adding an established starter was meant to boost the rotation&#8217;s durability. The 40-year-old reached 75 pitches in his last Triple-A rehab outing with some minor soreness.<\/p>\n<p>Scherzer will be pitching in a significant series against an AL contender (Guardians) who are looking to surpass the Blue Jays in the wild-card berth. They are currently 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the wild card standings. All in all, the three-time Cy Young winner&#8217;s upside with the Blue Jays provides them with a dominant starter. His continuous thumb injury has impacted him this season; the reality that he has the tools to bolster a rotation is huge. Ultimately, Scherzer&#8217;s return will accomplish something immediately, which is to make things easier with Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker.<\/p>\n<h2>Scherzer&#8217;s Return Could be Upside for Blue Jays<\/h2>\n<h3>Mad Max Strikes Again<\/h3>\n<p>Unfortunately, his lingering thumb issue from last season trickled back early on this season. The only start Scherzer has made this season (March 29th) had him pitch a mere three innings, where he also gave up two home runs. Blue Jays fans have unfortunately not been able to see &#8221;Mad Max&#8221; perform this season. But if he can remain healthy, he could help the Blue Jays do some serious damage in July.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Report: Max Scherzer slated to make Wednesday start for the Blue Jays <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F787w9axeE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/F787w9axeE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thejaysnation\/status\/1937119229461037487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"WaaZC\">\n<div class=\"RJPOee EIJn2\">\n<div class=\"rPeykc\" data-hveid=\"CAMQAQ\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwjC86WR3IaOAxXCKlkFHciRN5YQo_EKegQIAxAB\">\n<p><span data-huuid=\"15658859966076941536\">Max Scherzer&#8217;s upside with the Toronto Blue Jays is as a dominant starting pitcher. <\/span><span data-huuid=\"15658859966076940603\">While currently on the injured list due to a thumb injury, his potential to bolster the Blue Jays&#8217; rotation is significant, given his track record and recent rehab performance.<span class=\"pjBG2e\" data-cid=\"0d1a9180-a198-4b0b-9c6d-5bcdbbf87f46\"><span class=\"UV3uM\"> The proven ace is a future Hall of Famer and also brought an abundance of experience along with a winning pedigree. Scherzer is known for building up his pitch count and working to sustain velocity. His return is upcoming against the Guardians, and it would be beneficial to have an experienced veteran on the mound. If Scherzer can contribute to the Blue Jays&#8217; success, this will provide them with more stability. The strength that lies with Scherzer is that he embodies resiliency. Despite the numerous injuries, he will look to make a comeback with his strong work ethic and competitive drive.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Scherzer&#8217;s Impact On Blue Jays Rotation<\/h3>\n<div class=\"WaaZC\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<div class=\"RJPOee EIJn2\" aria-hidden=\"true\">In essence, Scherzer&#8217;s upside has the potential for a significant boost to the Blue Jays&#8217; starting rotation. But this all weighs on the reality of whether he can stay healthy and regain his previous form. The Blue Jays&#8217; rotation this season has been decent, with Chris Bassitt. The &#8216;Hound on the Mound,&#8217; has been pitching like an ace.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\">Main Photo Credits: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Blue Jays will be getting their offseason ace, Max Scherzer, back from the injury list. Scherzer hasn&#8217;t pitched since March 29th. Scherzer&#8217;s return comes at a pivotal point, as the Blue Jays are currently four games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Scherzer was signed as a free agent during the offseason and was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4831,"featured_media":102718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,35,7],"tags":[4223,79],"class_list":["post-102691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-news","category-bluejays","tag-chris-bassitt","tag-max-scherzer"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102691"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102720,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102691\/revisions\/102720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}