Max Scherzer: ‘I Want To Pitch Against Colorado In An Elimination Game’

The most helpful player to the Dodgers named Max may not be sitting in their dugout. Much has been made of Max Scherzer pitching against the Colorado Rockies this weekend. If the Dodgers win their game Saturday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants, Colorado will indeed face Max Scherzer on Sunday.

Scherzer confirmed the sentiment in an interview with MLB.com:

“If there’s an elimination game on the line here against the Rockies, they want me to pitch,” Scherzer said. “And for me the way I look at it, if there’s a playoff atmosphere on the line where somebody can get knocked out, that’s a heck of an environment to pitch in.

“Even though we’re playing for nothing, at least we can be able to toe the rubber knowing that the atmosphere here with the crowd and the other team would be playing at probably the highest level of any point I would face this year. Why wouldn’t I want to compete in that?”

At the present, the Colorado Rockies lead the Dodgers by a single game. Tonight, they face Stephen Strasburg. The Dodgers game result will probably be close to a final by the time first pitch happens in Denver.

Moreover, Scherzer is one of the most explosive talents in baseball. It’s one thing to need to beat Strasburg with all the chips in the middle of the table. Scherzer stomping around the mound, competing and pitching with a purpose; snarling in between pitches is an entirely different animal.

This could become the biggest storyline in baseball during the final day of the year. Furthermore, it’s great for the sport. If the Dodgers can take care of business today with Clayton Kershaw on the bump at AT&T, we are in for some high drama tomorrow.

And Max Scherzer could be the river card that catapults the Dodgers to yet another division title.