Jays ask Scherzer to turn back clock again as World Series shifts to L.A.

It still feels like something of a fever dream that Max Scherzer will start Game 3 of the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The guy with the legendary intensity and the impressive playoff resume and the three Cy Young Awards and the different colored eyes? That Max Scherzer?

Of course, part of the reason it's hard to believe is that Scherzer was a peripheral figure for much of his lone season in Toronto. He was pulled from his first start in March with a thumb issue and didn't return until late June. The 41-year-old worked his way into something approaching his old All-Star form over the next couple of months, but then he seemed to run out of gas. He struggled all September and was left off Toronto's roster for the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.

But also: He's Max Scherzer.

He delivered a huge start in the ALCS against Seattle, chasing manager John Schneider away from a mound visit with a stare - and several cuss words - that cracked up his teammates. He might not have his best stuff anymore, but sometimes it feels like he can get a high-leverage strikeout through sheer force of will.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, the guy they will face in Game 3 still has his best stuff. Tyler Glasnow, the 32-year-old who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers last season from the Tampa Bay Rays, has an ERA of 0.69 in the 2025 playoffs with 18 strikeouts in 13.1 innings. He's also coming back from injury, but because the Dodgers have such a stockpile of arms, his recovery process wasn't rushed.

The Jays will be hoping for Scherzer to turn back the clock and add another playoff jewel to his Hall of Fame resume, while the Dodgers just need Glasnow to keep doing what he's been doing.

That's indicative of the challenge facing the Blue Jays as the World Series moves to Dodger Stadium. Toronto has Scherzer, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage lined up to start. To recap, that's a 41-year-old who was benched in the ALDS, a guy coming off Tommy John surgery who made seven starts in the regular season, and a rookie who had three major-league starts under his belt before the playoffs.

The Dodgers will counter with Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Blake Snell. Ohtani, the best player in the world, has 19 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched in these playoffs. Snell is a two-time Cy Young winner who, like Glasnow, spent most of the season recovering from injury but is fully healthy now.

The Dodgers' starters for Games 3-5 are on contracts totaling more than $1 billion. That's billion, with a 'B.'

Scherzer is on a one-year, $15-million deal. Bieber has a two-year, $26-million contract. Yesavage is getting paid $760,000 this season.

It's entirely possible that none of that will matter. Toronto's starting rotation was essentially good-but-not-great all season long, and that's before the Jays lost two of their most dependable starters, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt, to injury. The Yankees and Mariners had better rotations in each of the previous playoff rounds, and the Blue Jays managed to nullify that advantage by wearing those starting pitchers out.

Toronto also employed that formula in Game 1 of the World Series against Snell, hanging around in at-bats and making him work before finally inflicting real damage against L.A.'s suspect bullpen.

That plan obviously didn't work in Game 2 when Yoshinobu Yamamoto survived a couple of early scuffles and then turned into Thanos. The Jays could barely lay a hand on him through the final six innings of a complete-game masterpiece.

All four of the Dodgers' World Series starters are formidable, but that's what the money's for: They were all bought off the free-agent market at some point since the winter of 2024 with a top-of-the-market contract. (L.A. traded for Glasnow but immediately signed him to a $136.6-million extension.)

Jays fans can take some comfort in the fact that they have so far made the Dodgers, despite all that pitching talent, look far from inevitable. Game 1 was a statement that Toronto would not simply roll over and die. And even in Game 2, the outcome was uncertain until Kevin Gausman gave up a couple of late homers and Yamamoto throttled the life out of them.

The Jays have proven that, at their best, they can score runs against just about anyone.

They will need to be at their best Monday night. And Tuesday night. And, well, you get the idea.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.