The Toronto Blue Jays walked into a lion’s den with their season on the line after losing the first two games of the ALCS at home. To save their season, manager John Schneider handed the ball to Max Scherzer for Game 4.

Battling with multiple injuries and posting a terrible 9.00 ERA over his final six starts, Scherzer missed the ALCS series against the Yankees and finally got a call for the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners, and was slated as a Game 4 starter. Manager John Schneider took a bet on him, and the bet paid well for the team and the fans as well. In the fifth inning, the 41-year-old legend showed the world exactly why his famous nickname, “Mad Max,” is so much more than just a moniker.

With two outs in the fifth, manager John Schneider walked to the mound. Everyone watching knew what that meant:  Schneider was about to pull his veteran pitcher. But Scherzer wasn’t having it. In a tense and fiery standoff captured on video, the ace argued his case. He fiercely refused to give up the baseball. Major League Baseball’s X account posted the clip, tweeting, “Max Scherzer was NOT coming out of this game.”

Schneider eventually backed down and let him pitch the next on bat Randy Arozarena. Scherzer eventually struck him out and ended his play, pitching 5.2 innings and striking out 5 batters. And it’s not new to the eight-time All-Star, who has pitched two no-hitters and who has started a postseason game for six different teams. That’s why

When the video of Scherzer’s standoff hit social media, fans erupted

For some, it’s a quintessential Scherzer moment. “This is why they call him MAD MAX!” Back in 2019, with the Nationals, he had thrown 117 pitches when his manager Davey Martinez came to get him. Before a word was said, Scherzer simply waved him away and refused to leave. He then struck out the next batter, an All-Star Joey Votto. That’s just who he is.

So one fan repeated the same feeling, saying, “That was vintage Max Scherzer, tells his manager to go back to the dugout and strikes out the batter to stomp off the field. The man looks like a deranged lunatic on the mound but damn can he pitch.”

Many fans simply admired the raw competitiveness. So one said, “All time competitor. You’re either a contender or a pretender. DAWG! 😤”.  This reputation is built on numerous incidents, like a heated dugout argument with fellow ace Stephen Strasburg in 2018, which their manager simply attributed to two “very competitive” players.

While some comment hilariously point out Scherzer’s old-school mentality. As one said, “You damn right he wasn’t. He has to get up to 140 [pitches] for it to be even semi-realistic.” Scherzer comes from an era where pitchers threw well over 100 pitches regularly; in that sense, 70 pitches is just a warm-up.

Finally, many fans saw the performance as magical, which denied his age and recent struggles. “MAD MAX TURNED BACK THE CLOCKS.” After seeing his struggle throughout the season and posting a terrible 9.00 ERA over his final six starts, many fans thought he was done. But in the end, the 3 time CY Young winner reminded the entire baseball world why he is a legend.