Max Scherzer had another frustrating injury setback this week. Just hours before his scheduled start on Wednesday, he suffered sudden back spasms. The Toronto Blue Jays had to scratch him from the game. This is terrible news for the team. They have a 36-38 record and are fighting hard for the final American League Wild Card spot. Losing a star pitcher to another injury really hurts their playoff chances.

“I’m frustrated,” expressed Scherzer, per Keegan Marheson. “I wanted to get in that rhythm. I wanted to be out there. My arm feels like it’s in a really great spot right now, but I can’t go.”

This new injury is very hard for the 41-year-old pitcher to accept. He just came back from six weeks on the injured list (IL). He had a sore right arm and left ankle. The Blue Jays finally brought him back on June 11 to pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies.

They hoped he could help their starting rotation for a big summer playoff push. Instead, just a week later, he is right back on the 15-day IL.

Scherzer is having the hardest season of his career. He has posted an ERA of 10.23 across six games and has a 1-4 record. During his return game against the Phillies last week, he did have one great moment. He struck out Kyle Schwarber. This made him only the 11th pitcher in baseball history to reach 3,500 career strikeouts. However, the good feelings did not last long. Manager John Schneider took him out after just 3.1 innings. Scherzer gave up five runs, five hits, and three walks.

The Blue Jays were forced to bring in last-minute changes in the rotation against the Boston Red Sox due to Scherzer’s injury. They brought up pitcher Chad Dallas from the minor leagues. They also used relief pitcher Braydon Fisher to start the game in Scherzer’s place.

While Scherzer himself continues to face challenges on the mound, he has expressed his latest idea for saving starting pitching in MLB.

Max Scherzer wants a major rule change in MLB 

In the last few years, the MLB has faced a starting pitching problem as pitchers are focusing more on high velocities and low inning counts. The chase for high velocity has also increased the chances of injuries in starting pitchers. So to save the ‘endangered’ starting pitching in MLB, Scherzer has put forward some steps.

“I would love to see some type of pitch minimum be brought into the game,” Scherzer reportedly said. “So that way a starter has to go out there and throw 100 pitches.”

The MLB does not have any binding rules for starting pitching. The decision about when to pull the starters out of the game relies completely on the coaches’ discretion.  But the veteran pitcher does not want that anymore. He wants the MLB to introduce a threshold before starters can be pulled from the game.

Last year and the year before, Scherzer had expressed a similar sentiment. He wanted starting pitchers to throw at least six innings, 100 pitches, or allow four runs in 2025. In 2024, he wanted the threshold at 90 pitches, three runs, and five innings.