Max Scherzer Shouldn’t Have Had To Explain Himself

It’s strange. You would think if the Washington Nationals ever made it to the World Series at least one of Stephen Strasburg or Max Scherzer would start at least one of the games played at Nationals Park. With Strasburg starting Game 2 that wasn’t going to happen. But Scherzer, well, we all expected him to start.

Until he didn’t.

As it turned out, Scherzer could not go. The pitcher who struck out 14 in a game he started soon after breaking his nose would have to tell his team he could not start the biggest game in team history. It is impossible to imagine the amount of pain he must have been in to have to tell the team he could not start the game.

As a Nationals fan, it must’ve been a cruel fate to not see the best pitcher in franchise history not get the ball in the World Series. As a baseball fan, you missed out on what should have been one of the greatest pitching match-ups in World Series history with him facing off against Gerrit Cole. However, none of that disappointment can even compare to what Scherzer felt.

And make no mistake, even if he didn’t tell us his wife had to dress him and he couldn’t lift his arm, we should have known he was in excruciating pain. We’d know that just by the simple fact he said he couldn’t pitch. The fact this came in a game against the Astros should have served as that reminder as there will forever be the story of J.R. Richard, who should forever serve as a cautionary tale of questioning just how injured a player is.

For those unaware of the story, Richard was as great a pitcher was we’ve ever seen. In back-to-back seasons, Richard struck out over 300 batters. In 1980, he was in his prime, and you were left to wonder what was next in what was shaping up to be a Hall of Fame career. Instead, it all unraveled.

Richard complained of injury, and yet no one believed him. That was until he had a career ending stroke. As it turns out, he had a blood clot in his shoulder. He was never the same, and eventually, he would become homeless.

Despite this happening, we see this time and again. There was Jay Cutler in the NFC Championship Game. With respect to Mets fans, we saw it happen with Matt Harvey, who would eventually be diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. To this day, people still want to make Harvey’s downfall to be more than his TOS.

Going back to Scherzer, he was smart getting in front of the cameras to tell us why he couldn’t pitch. He did it despite being in such excruciating pain he couldn’t dress himself. However, Scherzer probably knew he needed to explain himself, and once he did that, we would understand. As we know, there are those who will refuse, but thankfully, they seem to be in the minority.

In the end, Scherzer didn’t start the biggest game in Nationals history. He may not pitch again in this series. It’s cruel for fans to miss seeing him pitch. It’s worse for him in that he missed that chance to pitch, and despite the excruciating pain, he felt the need to explain himself.

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