Max Scherzer has been on the big league circuit long enough to understand MLB’s starting pitching problems better than anyone. As high-velocity expectations and low inning count endanger starting pitching, the veteran starter has expressed his desire for an MLB-wide change. Scherzer wants MLB to introduce new, stricter rules to promote and protect starting pitching.

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

Currently, MLB has no binding rules for starting pitching. Team managers can pull their starters as early or as late as they wish. But Scherzer wants that to change. He expressed a similar sentiment previously.

In 2025, Scherzer demanded that MLB start penalizing teams for pulling their starters out of the game early. He wanted the league to introduce a concept called “the qualified starter.”

To become one, a pitcher has to either throw six innings, 100 pitches, or allow four runs. The year before, he wanted the thresholds at five innings, 90 pitches, and three runs.

This season, he has raised the stakes even higher.

“I would love to see some things try to empower starting pitching,” said Scherzer on Jomboy Media. “Trying to get starting pitchers back to throwing. Trying to get to 7 innings, 105 pitches, and have that be a kind of standard.”

The Toronto Blue Jays manager, John Schneider, has pulled Scherzer early this season for more than half of his starts.

Against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 10, Schneider pulled Scherzer after throwing 82 pitches. In those 3.1 innings, the RHP allowed 5 runs on 5 hits, with 2 homers and 3 walks.

Scherzer’s latest start is an example of his struggles on the mound lately.

The Blue Jays starter has had a difficult season from the beginning. He has posted a 1-4 record with a 10.23 ERA in 6 games. The 41-year-old is having the worst season in his career, ERA-wise. Moreover, multiple injuries have also hampered him badly this season.

Left ankle inflammation and right forearm tendinitis sidelined him since April 24. The Blue Jays reinstated him on June 11.

Scherzer is currently under a 1-year, $3 million contract with the Blue Jays. Toronto can either trade him during the upcoming deadline or part ways with him in the offseason, considering he will be 42 next year.

Scherzer’s future at Toronto appears murky unless he gains his footing back. Despite the difficult season, the veteran starter recently became a part of MLB history.

Max Scherzer reached a new milestone

Max Scherzer is in his eighteenth big league season.

In his lengthy MLB tenure, Scherzer has earned exceptional success, including two World Series rings. He won his first ring with the Washington Nationals in 2019 against the Houston Astros. Scherzer’s latest World Series win came in 2023, when he was pitching for the Texas Rangers. However, his regular-season career is equally illustrious.

Across 489 outings, Scherzer holds a career ERA of 3.27. He is also a three-time Cy Young winner and eight-time All-Star. Last Wednesday marked the 480 start of his career.

While his season’s struggle continued against the Phillies, it did not stop Scherzer from reaching an MLB milestone.

During his first MLB start after injury, Scherzer recorded his 3500 strikeout after he caught Kyle Schwarber looking on a changeup. He became the eleventh pitcher in MLB history to achieve the feat. It was also the first out of the game.

But his pitching issues did not alleviate, as Scherzer gave up a homer to Bryce Harper in the same inning in a two-out situation. The Blue Jays pulled Scherzer in the fourth after he continued leaking runs, as Alec Bohm launched a three-run shot against him. The RHP now has 1503 strikeouts under his name.