The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Nationals face off in a win-or-go-home NLDS Game 5 on Thursday and Max Scherzer, who will be taking the mound for the Nats, fully understands the stakes.
In an interview with Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports on Wednesday, the four-time All-Star wasn’t shy.
“Yep, this is probably the biggest start of my career,” Scherzer said. “Biggest start of my life. I’ve said that a handful of times throughout my career. How you handle that, going out there and using the emotion of that scenario, that everything’s on the line … I’m not gonna shy away from it. This is the biggest start of my career.”
It’s worth mentioning that the 32-year-old Scherzer, who took the loss in Game 1 of the series, has already made 11 postseason starts in his career, including Game 4 of the 2012 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. But, as Zuckerman notes, Scherzer still has yet to start a winner-take-all playoff game.
That will change on Thursday when Scherzer goes up against Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill, who entered this postseason with only one prior playoff start in his career. With the game being played at Nationals Park (though the home-field advantage for Scherzer there hasn’t always been on point), Washington should feel confident about handing the baseball to their ace righty with their season on the line.
H/T theScore
