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EspañolDUNEDIN, Fla. — On the morning that Max Scherzer officially joined the Blue Jays, John Schneider revealed a World Series story that hadn’t been told before.
The story began in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, which Scherzer started. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Blue Jays were ahead 4-3 with a chance to add to their lead.
On the field, Ernie Clement doubled to lead off the inning then Andres Gimenez lined out to third base. Meanwhile, in the Blue Jays’ dugout, Schneider was thinking strategy. Jeff Hoffman was warming up in the left-field bullpen and Shohei Ohtani was due up third in the top of the ninth, so the question was: would the Blue Jays pitch to Ohtani if he came up with two outs, nobody on and a championship on the line?
Within the third-base dugout at Rogers Centre, Schneider turned to his most trusted coaches: Don Mattingly, DeMarlo Hale and Pete Walker. Each weighed in, but Schneider wanted one more opinion before he made the final call — Scherzer’s.
“Hey, what do you got?” Schneider asked Scherzer while Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan started working his way out of trouble.
“Whatever you decide is gonna be right,” Scherzer replied. “You’ve been making the right decisions all year.”
Scherzer then walked away and Schneider made his decision: the Blue Jays would pitch to Ohtani. Ultimately, Hoffman would allow a game-tying home run to Miguel Rojas and the Dodgers would go on to win, but that moment illustrated how much trust had built between the 46-year-old manager and the 41-year-old pitcher.
As Scherzer arrived in Blue Jays camp for his second season with the team, that relationship was again front and centre. How soon will Scherzer pitch? What kind of workload is realistic? Could he be asked to pitch out of the bullpen?
Answering all these questions will require honesty and communication, but after a year of near-daily conversations about the nuances of the game, some real trust is already in place as a new season begins.
“We came as close as you possibly can to winning the whole thing,” Scherzer said Tuesday morning. “It’s something you can never get over or forget, so that was a huge reason why I wanted to come back, because this team can win and I want to be a part of it.”
First, Scherzer will have to ramp up to game readiness, but he says he’s well on his way toward being ready for Opening Day. Before finalizing his one-year deal with the Blue Jays he faced free-agent hitters, building up to two innings and 45 pitches on his own.
“I’m ready,” he said.
And the goal is to break camp on the opening-day roster? “Yeah.”
At a time that six other starters are gearing up for Opening Day, that has the potential to create some tough decisions for Schneider and the Blue Jays. While the Blue Jays would consider a six-man rotation, Schneider acknowledged that’s not his personal preference at this point.
And unless there’s an injury, that would mean two of Scherzer, Eric Lauer, Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce or Jose Berrios is not in the rotation to begin the year (that’s in addition to Shane Bieber, who will open the season on the injured list).
“For me, it’s just focusing on myself,” Scherzer said. “Making sure I’m healthy and going out there and pitching the way I can. If I can go out there to be myself and who I can be (then) I can definitely help the ball club win. That’s why they called and wanted to see where I was at. I told them I feel good, ready to go and that’s how we got a deal done.”
The Blue Jays see Scherzer as a starter, but they also intend to run a meritocracy with their rotation and every pitcher is aware of that, Scherzer included. At the same time, Schneider is aware that Scherzer will let his displeasure be known if needed, just as he did in Game 4 of the ALCS.
“He’s definitely earned the right the yell at me on national TV,” Schneider joked.
The thumb issues that sidelined Scherzer for stretches last year have been solved, he said. And while he’s had to cut back on pickup basketball as he’s gotten older, everything else about Scherzer’s off-season prep remains the same as it was 10 years ago.
As Scherzer showed in the 2025 post-season, he’s still capable of being a difference making arm against the best hitters in the world. There weren’t many teams he would have considered signing with, but after the experience he and his family had last year, the Blue Jays were atop that list.
Within the Blue Jays organization, the interest was mutual. As talks with Scherzer ramped up, the Blue Jays met internally to discuss how Scherzer would fit on and off the field. Schneider was all in and the front office was able to get a deal done for $3 million plus incentives — less than one per cent of their overall payroll.
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Relative to the money he’s making, Scherzer will have an outsized impact on the culture of this team. He loves talking strategy with Schneider and is “hyper aware” of things like baserunning and advancing runners, according to the manager.
And whether the Blue Jays are facing adversity or cruising along in first place, the coaching staff trusts the three-time Cy Young winner to read the room and help the group adjust on the go.
“It’s just controlling the undertow of the team,” Schneider said. “There’s always an undertow, good or bad. (Max) understands when it’s good to keep it going there and when it’s getting off the tracks a little bit make sure it goes back out to sea.”
