Blue Jays' Max Scherzer shows encouraging signs in his first spring outing

He said he hadn't thrown his last pitch in the big leagues and after one spring outing for the Toronto Blue Jays, Max Scherzer is making that statement abundantly clear. After pitching in Game 7 of the World Series in which the Blue Jays lost to the LA Dodgers last November, the 41-year-old Scherzer was defiant in claiming that he wasn't ready to be done with playing in the big leagues.

Flash forward to February and Scherzer signs a deal to come back with the Blue Jays late in training camp. An incentive laden contract that rewards Scherzer the more he pitches. He's got a $3 million base salary and after 65 innings pitched, he'll get an extra million dollars every ten innings he throws.

But the question remained just how many innings does Scherzer realistically have left? After his first Grapefruit League outing on Saturday, he might have a bunch left to throw after his pitches were doing exactly what he needed them to do.

Blue Jays' Max Scherzer shows encouraging signs in his first spring outing

Scherzer threw four no-hit innings with one walk and one strikeout in a 1-0 Blue Jays win over the Philadelphia Phillies. His fastball averaged 94 mph after sitting at 93.6 last year. He also managed to generating six swinging strikes and consistantly attacked the zone. Sure, it's March, but it was a strong debut for the future Hall of Famer who is about to play in his 19th big league season.

Scherzer did get a little help from his friends in this one. In the bottom of the third with a runner on first and one out, Bryson Stott sent a line drive right up the middle for what should have been a clean single. However, Blue Jays prospect Josh Kasevich, who is making a strong bid to earn a bench role come Opening Day, dove behind second base to rob Stott of a hit. He then got up and threw out the runner trying to get back to first for an inning ending double play.

But when you're pitching that well, sometimes the ball's just bounce your way and that was the case for Scherzer on Saturday afternoon. It was a nod of confidence for Scherzer and the coaching staff. Earlier on Saturday, manager John Schneider and Pete Walker told reporters that they were "pleasantly surprised" with Scherzer's side sessions and that he looked strong in those outings.

A healthy and motivated Scherzer is another added weapon to a Blue Jays' pitching staff that has had been revamped during the offseason and appears to be one of the teams' strengths going into 2026. Scherzer says he plans to be ready for Opening Day and this was the first sign of that coming to fruition.