How Reds might get one last shot to help make history in season finale

TORONTO – The Cincinnati Reds don’t get to be part of the playoffs this season.

And if MLB owners decide to extend a labor lockout into next summer, they might not get to be part of playing any baseball at all for a very long time.

But until then, they have one more game on the schedule this season.

And it might even give them a chance to be part of history.

That’s because Hall of Fame-bound star Max Scherzer might choose at some point this winter to retire from a long and decorated career, which makes Scherzer’s start for the Toronto Blue Jays in the season finale against the Cincinnati Reds at least a significant historical footnote for this MLB season.

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Will he earn career win No. 225? How many more strikeouts will he add to the 3,550 total that ranks ninth all-time? How close can he get to catching longtime pal and former teammate Justin Verlander, who moved 10 ahead of Scherzer in a start Saturday that Verlander already said will be his last?

Scherzer laughed a little when that last question was asked on the eve of that start.

“Everybody’s gonna make a big deal about that,” he said. “That’s not what the motivation to pitch (the final day) is. It’s about going out there competing and having fun.”

Scherzer, whose final start of last year was Game 7 of the World Series, said he and his family circled this one a while back as an opportunity to pitch in front of his kids for possibly the final time. “Just in case,” he said.

For the Reds, who beat the sloppy Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday (Sept. 26) the season finale against the eight-time All-Star offers a chance to win the final series of the season and complete their first winning road trip since July.

Along the way it maybe adds just a little juice to a game that’s being played in the deep shadows, miles across the border from any other meaningful consequence — and certainly adds at least a little juice for what’s expected to be another sold-out crowd at Rogers Centre.

If Scherzer was circling the date on the schedule for any competitive reason, history says he might have circled the right date.

He’s 6-2 with a 1.67 ERA in 10 starts against the Reds in his career — his best ERA by far against any opponent. Next best: 2.31 in 12 starts against his current team, the Blue Jays.

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On the other hand, he hasn’t faced the Reds since he was a young man of 37, back in July of 2022, when he struck out 11 in six scoreless innings of a 1-0 victory over the Reds while pitching for the Mets.

Scherzer has 95 career strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings (13.2 per nine) against the Reds, for whatever that might be worth by the time he compares his career total with Verlander’s at the end of the afternoon.

“It’s funny how that’s unfolding,” Scherzer said. “Here we are all these years later neck and neck in that regard.

“For all that he’s accomplished in the game …I’ve just really enjoyed watching him being able to get back one more time.”

Elly De La Cruz is one stolen base away from becoming the fourth member of the Cincinnati Reds’ 30-30 club.

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Elly De La Cruz is one stolen base away from becoming the fourth member of the Cincinnati Reds’ 30-30 club.

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Eric Davis became the first Reds player to join the 30-30 club in 1987.

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Barry Larkin became the second Red, and first shortstop in MLB history, to join the 30-30 club in 1996.

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Brandon Phillips became the third Red to join the 30-30 club in 2007.

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Whatever Scherzer does in Sunday’s season finale on what’s forecast to be a beautiful day in Toronto, he’ll do it on short rest four days after his last start and with no prescribed limit or preconceived goals (friendly strikeout battle notwithstanding).

“For me it’s just about being healthy and pitching this last game and having fun with it,” he said, “and then see what happens.”