{"id":2480,"date":"2026-02-26T11:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/?p=2480"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:19:31","slug":"max-scherzer-returns-to-toronto-blue-jays-on-one-year-deal-ahead-of-new-mlb-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/max-scherzer-returns-to-toronto-blue-jays-on-one-year-deal-ahead-of-new-mlb-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Scherzer Returns to Toronto Blue Jays on One-Year Deal Ahead of New MLB Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran pitcher <strong>Max Scherzer<\/strong> is set to return to the <strong>Toronto Blue Jays<\/strong> after agreeing to a one-year, US$3 million contract, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The deal is pending a successful physical and has not yet been officially announced.<\/p>\n<p>The three-time Cy Young Award winner can earn up to an additional $10 million in performance bonuses. At 41, Scherzer brings experience and leadership back to the reigning American League champions as spring training continues.<\/p>\n<p>Scherzer went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA across 17 starts and 85 innings last season in his first year with Toronto. He later made three postseason starts, including a key win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. He also started twice in the World Series against the <strong>Los Angeles Dodgers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In Game 7 of the World Series, Scherzer delivered 4 1\/3 innings of one-run baseball before leaving to a standing ovation from fans at Rogers Centre. Despite his effort, the Blue Jays fell 5-4 in 11 innings.<\/p>\n<p>Scherzer originally signed a $15.5 million one-year contract with Toronto in February 2025 and became a free agent again this winter. His return strengthens a rotation expected to include Dylan Cease, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos and Eric Lauer.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Jays manager <strong>John Schneider<\/strong> praised Scherzer\u2019s influence on and off the field, noting his willingness to challenge teammates and share lessons from his long career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s not afraid to push the envelope. He\u2019s not afraid to be curious. He\u2019s not afraid to share things that he\u2019s been through,\u201d Schneider said last season.<\/p>\n<p>Scherzer is a two-time World Series champion, winning titles with the <strong>Washington Nationals<\/strong> in 2019 and the <strong>Texas Rangers<\/strong> in 2023. The eight-time All-Star owns a career record of 221-117 with a 3.22 ERA while pitching for the Diamondbacks, Tigers, Nationals, Dodgers, Mets, Rangers and Blue Jays.<\/p>\n<p>He currently ranks 11th on Major League Baseball\u2019s all-time strikeouts list with 3,489, just 20 shy of Hall of Famer <strong>Walter Johnson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran pitcher Max Scherzer is set to return to the Toronto Blue Jays after agreeing to a one-year, US$3 million contract, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The deal is pending a successful physical and has not yet been officially announced. The three-time Cy Young Award winner can earn up to an additional [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":2873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3672,14667,14668,14669,14670,14671,14672,14673,14674,14675],"class_list":["post-2480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-amat","tag-american-league-champions","tag-blue-jays-rotation-2026","tag-cy-young-award-winner","tag-max-scherzer-blue-jays","tag-mlb-free-agency-news","tag-mlb-spring-training-signing","tag-scherzer-return-toronto","tag-toronto-blue-jays-contract","tag-world-series-veteran-pitcher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}