Players · S · Pitcher · 2026 regular season

Max Scherzer

Age: 42
B/T: R/R
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 208 lb
Number: #31

Born: July 27, 1984 in St. Louis, MO, United States
MLB debut: April 29, 2008
Drafted: 2003, round 43
College: Missouri
High school: Parkway Central
Salary, 2026: $3M

Compare with…vs Ryan Johnson vs Clayton Kershaw vs Andrew Painter

dbWAR: 67.4
IP: 84.2
ERA: 5.74
FIP: 5.11
K/9: 7.2
FIP−: 122

Max Scherzer is a starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2026 he struck out 68 batters over 84.2 innings across 18 appearances, 18 of them starts, going 4-9. His ERA of 5.74 was 37.3% higher than the league average of 4.18 — the second worst on his team, and 470th of 539 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.11 FIP suggests he pitched better than his ERA shows. He missed bats on 21.3% of swings (10.6% of every pitch he threw), walked 9.6% of the batters he faced and struck out 18.7%. His 0.1 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2026 regular season.

FIP5.11

K/97.2

WHIP1.33

WAR.1

WAR by season

Pitching Regular season

Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only — postseason games are listed separately below.


2026	TOR	18	18	84.2	4	9	78	54	68	35	5.74	5.11	1.33	7.2	3.7	137	122	0.1
2025	TOR	17	17	85.0	5	5	87	49	82	23	5.19	4.99	1.29	8.7	2.4	125	120	0.2
2024	TEX	9	9	43.1	2	4	40	19	40	10	3.95	4.18	1.15	8.3	2.1	97	103	0.4
2023	NYM/TEX	27	27	152.2	13	6	126	64	174	45	3.77	4.32	1.12	10.3	2.7	87	100	1.8
2022	NYM	23	23	145.1	11	5	108	37	173	24	2.29	2.62	0.91	10.7	1.5	58	66	4.0
2021	WSH/LAD	30	30	179.1	15	4	119	49	236	36	2.46	2.97	0.86	11.8	1.8	58	70	4.8
2020	WSH	12	12	67.1	5	4	70	28	92	23	3.74	3.46	1.38	12.3	3.1	84	78	1.6
2019	WSH	27	27	172.1	11	7	144	56	243	33	2.92	2.45	1.03	12.7	1.7	65	54	6.1
2018	WSH	33	33	220.2	18	7	150	62	300	51	2.53	2.65	0.91	12.2	2.1	61	64	6.7
2017	WSH	31	31	200.2	16	6	126	56	268	55	2.51	2.90	0.90	12.0	2.5	58	67	5.8
2016	WSH	34	34	228.1	20	7	165	75	284	56	2.96	3.24	0.97	11.2	2.2	71	77	5.1
2015	WSH	33	33	228.2	14	12	176	71	276	34	2.79	2.77	0.92	10.9	1.3	71	70	6.0
2014	DET	33	33	220.1	18	5	196	77	252	63	3.15	2.85	1.18	10.3	2.6	84	76	5.0
2013	DET	32	32	214.1	21	3	152	69	240	56	2.90	2.74	0.97	10.1	2.4	75	71	5.6
2012	DET	32	32	187.2	16	7	179	78	231	60	3.74	3.26	1.27	11.1	2.9	93	81	3.9
2011	DET	33	33	195.0	15	9	207	96	174	56	4.43	4.14	1.35	8.0	2.6	112	105	1.8
2010	DET	31	31	195.2	12	11	174	76	184	70	3.50	3.71	1.25	8.5	3.2	86	91	3.1
2009	AZ	30	30	170.1	9	11	166	78	174	63	4.12	3.87	1.34	9.2	3.3	95	89	3.1
2008	AZ	16	7	56.0	0	4	48	19	66	21	3.05	3.33	1.23	10.6	3.4	71	77	1.2

Batting Regular season

Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only — postseason games are listed separately below.


2021	WSH/LAD	27	63	0	0	1	0	0	28	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	44.4%	.000	-16.8	-122	-0.8
2019	WSH	28	61	10	0	2	2	0	27	.182	.182	.182	.000	.357	0.0%	44.3%	.159	-8.6	-11	0.1
2018	WSH	32	78	17	0	6	1	1	14	.243	.274	.271	.029	.304	1.3%	17.9%	.245	-4.6	47	0.7
2017	WSH	30	72	10	1	5	0	4	16	.161	.212	.210	.048	.200	5.6%	22.2%	.193	-7.9	10	0.3
2016	WSH	33	85	13	0	12	0	2	30	.186	.208	.200	.014	.325	2.4%	35.3%	.183	-9.4	7	0.2
2015	WSH	32	77	15	0	0	0	2	23	.217	.239	.217	.000	.326	2.6%	29.9%	.206	-6.7	22	0.4
2014	DET	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	25.0%	.000	-1.0	-121	-0.0
2013	DET	1	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	.333	.333	.667	.333	.333	0.0%	0.0%	.433	+0.3	174	0.1
2012	DET	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	25.0%	.000	-1.0	-117	-0.1
2011	DET	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	0.0%	.000	-1.0	-118	-0.1
2010	DET	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	0.0%	.000	-0.5	-126	-0.0
2009	AZ	30	61	12	0	3	0	3	17	.226	.268	.264	.038	.333	4.9%	27.9%	.245	-4.3	38	0.4
2008	AZ	9	15	0	0	0	0	1	4	.000	.071	.000	.000	.000	6.7%	26.7%	.052	-3.5	-88	-0.1

Separate from the regular season

Postseason Postseason

Wild Card through World Series. These games are counted on their own: none of them are in the regular-season tables, career totals, league context, leaderboards or dbWAR on this page.

Postseason pitching

Postseason Max Scherzer's postseason pitching, by October and round. Not part of any regular-season figure on this page.
Season	Team	Round	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP	K/9
2025 Post	TOR	Postseason total	3	3	14.1	1	0	0	12	6	3	6	11	3.77	1.26	6.9
		ALCS	1	1	5.2	1	0	0	3	2	1	4	5	3.18	1.24	7.9
		World Series	2	2	8.2	0	0	0	9	4	2	2	6	4.15	1.27	6.2
2023 Post	TEX	Postseason total	3	3	9.2	0	1	0	11	7	2	5	7	6.52	1.66	6.5
		ALCS	2	2	6.2	0	1	0	9	7	2	3	6	9.45	1.80	8.1
		World Series	1	1	3.0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	1	0.00	1.33	3.0
2022 Post	NYM	Wild Card	1	1	4.2	0	1	0	7	7	4	0	4	13.50	1.50	7.7
2021 Post	LAD	Postseason total	4	3	16.2	0	1	1	10	4	2	5	23	2.16	0.90	12.4
		Wild Card	1	1	4.1	0	0	0	3	1	0	3	4	2.08	1.38	8.3
		NLDS	2	1	8.0	0	1	1	3	1	1	1	12	1.13	0.50	13.5
		NLCS	1	1	4.1	0	0	0	4	2	1	1	7	4.15	1.15	14.5
2019 Post	WSH	Postseason total	6	5	30.0	3	0	0	21	8	4	15	37	2.40	1.20	11.1
		Wild Card	1	1	5.0	0	0	0	4	3	2	3	6	5.40	1.40	10.8
		NLDS	2	1	8.0	1	0	0	4	1	1	3	10	1.13	0.88	11.3
		NLCS	1	1	7.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	11	0.00	0.43	14.1
		World Series	2	2	10.0	1	0	0	12	4	1	7	10	3.60	1.90	9.0
2017 Post	WSH	NLDS	2	1	7.1	0	1	0	4	3	0	4	8	3.68	1.09	9.8
2016 Post	WSH	NLDS	2	2	12.0	0	1	0	10	5	3	2	12	3.75	1.00	9.0
2014 Post	DET	ALDS	1	1	7.1	0	1	0	7	5	2	1	6	6.14	1.09	7.4
2013 Post	DET	Postseason total	4	3	22.1	2	1	0	12	7	1	11	34	2.82	1.03	13.7
		ALDS	2	1	9.0	2	0	0	6	3	1	4	13	3.00	1.11	13.0
		ALCS	2	2	13.1	0	1	0	6	4	0	7	21	2.70	0.97	14.2
2012 Post	DET	Postseason total	3	3	17.1	1	0	0	12	4	1	4	26	2.08	0.92	13.5
		ALDS	1	1	5.1	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	8	0.00	0.75	13.5
		ALCS	1	1	5.2	1	0	0	2	1	0	2	10	1.59	0.71	15.9
		World Series	1	1	6.1	0	0	0	7	3	1	1	8	4.26	1.26	11.4
2011 Post	DET	Postseason total	4	3	15.2	1	1	0	15	10	1	9	14	5.74	1.53	8.0
		ALDS	2	1	7.1	1	0	0	4	1	0	4	7	1.23	1.09	8.6
		ALCS	2	2	8.1	0	1	0	11	9	1	5	7	9.72	1.92	7.6
Career		Postseason total · 11 Octobers	33	28	157.1	8	8	1	121	66	23	62	182	3.78	1.16	10.4

Postseason batting

Postseason Max Scherzer's postseason batting, by October and round. Not part of any regular-season figure on this page.
Season	Team	Round	G	PA	AB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2021 Post	LAD	Postseason total	3	5	3	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
		Wild Card	1	1	0	0	—	—	—	—
		NLDS	1	2	1	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
		NLCS	1	2	2	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
2019 Post	WSH	Postseason total	3	6	6	2	.000	.000	.000	.000
		Wild Card	1	1	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
		NLDS	1	3	3	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
		NLCS	1	2	2	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
2017 Post	WSH	NLDS	1	3	3	2	.000	.000	.000	.000
2016 Post	WSH	NLDS	2	4	4	2	.000	.000	.000	.000
Career		Postseason total · 4 Octobers	9	18	16	7	.000	.000	.000	.000

Box-score and rate statistics only. wOBA, wRC+, FIP and dbWAR are measured against a full league season, and a postseason is a few teams playing each other for a month, so they are not computed for October.

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2026. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	231	199	56	9	28	32	.281	.374	.462	.371	13.9%
vs RHB	133	126	22	6	7	36	.175	.218	.341	.245	27.1%

Pitch sequencing

What Max Scherzer throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

Four-seamSliderChangeupCurveballCutter

Select a count to see exactly what Max Scherzer throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	47.2%	690	92.9	2,332	51.9%	18.8%	133	.218	.676
Slider	18.8%	274	85.6	2,447	46.4%	28.8%	75	.267	.899
Changeup	15.5%	227	83.9	1,360	37.0%	17.8%	55	.236	.652
Curveball	14.8%	216	74.5	2,704	43.1%	26.0%	52	.231	.586
Cutter	3.7%	54	87.5	2,545	38.9%	10.0%	11	—	—

Max Scherzer's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

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Similar players

Nearest 2026 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Ryan JohnsonLAA

ERA: 5.04
FIP: 5.33
SO: 79
WAR: -0.3

Very close

Andrew PainterPHI

ERA: 5.40
FIP: 4.67
SO: 115
WAR: 0.9

Very close

Jacob LopezATH

ERA: 5.47
FIP: 5.22
SO: 112
WAR: 0.3

Very close

Noah SchultzCWS

ERA: 5.57
FIP: 4.84
SO: 67
WAR: 0.2

Very close

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.