Max Scherzer speaks on winning World Series with Rangers after Mets trade
Max Scherzer wanted a chance to win another World Series and he got what he wished for.
The Texas Rangers, who Scherzer was traded over to from the Mets at the trade deadline, won their first World Series championship on Wednesday night, and the right-hander was there to celebrate with the teammates he’s known for less than three months.
Following the Rangers’ 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the series-clinching Game 5, Scherzer was a guest on the FOX Sports postgame show where he was asked a variety of questions about his time with the Rangers.
The first question was about Scherzer and former player turned Rangers GM Chris Young’s relationship. The question was asked after FOX’s cameras caught the two congratulating each other and embracing in the locker room after the final out.
“From the trade deadline the moment I came over here, how pumped [Chris Young] was to have me here,” Scherzer explained. “This is the first time I've had a former player be a GM. So it's kind of been a different experience for me and to have his passion in the clubhouse, it's just a completely different feel than I ever had. When you have a former player there and someone you’ve competed against, it made [winning] a little extra special.”
Young brought Scherzer over from the Mets in exchange for Luisangel Acuna, one of the top prospects in the Rangers’ system.
Scherzer was brought in to fill in Jacob deGrom's shoes, another Mets co-ace whose season ended early after injuring his elbow, which required Tommy John surgery. However, Scherzer had and up-and-down stint with Texas.
After the trade, Scherzer made eight regular-season starts for Texas and went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA. However, he suffered a shoulder injury in August that sidelined him for the rest of the regular season.
Scherzer did fight back to return for the playoffs, but left Game 3 of the World Series after pitching three shutout innings due to a back injury that forced the Rangers to remove the three-time Cy Young winner off the roster.
The Rangers went through a lot of adversity this season and especially in the postseason. They lost deGrom during the regular season, and Scherzer and ALCS MVP Adolis Garcia were lost in the World Series due to injuries.
Despite that, Texas took care of business and Scherzer says it’s because of the roster that was built.
“It was just the whole team, the whole time,” Scherzer said. “It didn't matter what happened we just plugged the next guy up and the next guy just went in there and had success. Up and down the roster, even when I go down [in Game 3] Jon Gray comes in and throws three shutout innings, Andrew Heaney the huge outs he gets, so across the roster everybody did their job and that's what it takes to win a championship.”
After winning a title with the 2019 Washington Nationals, Scherzer is a champion once again and will look to repeat next year with Texas -- after he opted into the 2024 season. But for now, the future Hall-of-Famer is enjoying this moment.
“It's such a surreal moment, you know, there's just so many emotions. There's so many different things that happened over the past month,” Scherzer said of his feelings after winning his second World Series. “To be the last team standing, there's just not a greater feeling.”
