In the offseason, Max Scherzer signed a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals. Today, he has been named the Nationals' Opening Day starting pitcher over both Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimermann. Strasburg has started three straight Opening Day games.
The Nationals will open the season against the New York Mets on April 6. Scherzer should be facing right-hander Bartolo Colon in that game.
“It’s going to be real exciting,” Scherzer said to James Wagner of the Washington Post. “It’s a great honor to be able to start Opening Day, especially for this club and especially on this staff. But at the end of the day, it’s just Game 1. We have 162 of these things, and, hopefully, we can play as well we can for the entire season.”
Last season, Scherzer pitched 33 games and 220.1 innings for the Detroit Tigers. He had a 18-5 record with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.175 WHIP. He gave up eight hits per nine innings. He was an All-Star and placed fifth in the American League Cy Young voting.
In his 2013 season, the righty won the American League Cy Young with the Tigers. He led the league with a 21-3 record and a 2.90 ERA. He pitched 32 games and 214.1 innings. The All-Star led the league with a 0.970 WHIP and did well with 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. It was an amazing season that helped with the huge payday.
“It’s a difficult [decision] but a good one at the same time,” manager Matt Williams said to Wagner. “We have really good, quality starting pitching. I can tell you this, to a man, the guys that are actually throwing the baseball, they don’t much care about it. They just want the ball every fifth day and to win."
The 30-year-old has had an outstanding start to the spring. Scherzer is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA over four games and 14 innings pitched. He has a 14/0 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 0.929 WHIP.