Blue Jays’ – Max Scherzer struck out Kyle Schwarber in the first inning and quickly added his 3,501st punchout, becoming the 11th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,500 career strikeouts.
When Max Scherzer started his night in Toronto, it didn’t take long for the number to start moving. In Wednesday’s game, the Blue Jays right-hander struck out Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber in the first at-bat of the first inning.
That strikeout didn’t just set the tone — it pushed Scherzer into rare territory. With it, he became just the 11th pitcher in MLB history to record 3,500 career strikeouts.
The historic moment kept coming. Scherzer didn’t even wait for the inning to play out. On the very next at-bat, he collected his 3,501st strikeout by getting Trae Turner to swing and miss on a 95 m.p.h. fastball.
Now, Scherzer’s name sits alongside an all-time list that reads like the blueprint for modern pitching greatness. The elite company includes Nolan Ryan. Randy Johnson. Roger Clemens. Steve Carlton. Bert Blyleven. Tom Seaver. Don Sutton. Justin Verlander. Gaylord Perry and Walter Johnson. Scherzer and Verlander are the only active players on that list.
The 41-year-old has spent nearly two decades adding to his reputation. Over his 19-year career, Scherzer has won three Cy Young Awards. He’s also posted a sub-3.0 ERA eight times, with five of those coming consecutively from 2015-19. Strikeouts have been a theme throughout his dominance as well — he led MLB in strikeouts three times.
The numbers tell the full story of how consistently he’s produced at the highest level: 74.3 WAR, 222 wins, and a 3.24 ERA across close to 3,000 total innings.
For Scherzer, the milestone wasn’t a distant benchmark reached in quiet fashion. It came early, after one swing and one miss, and then again immediately — two strikeouts, two steps deeper into a legacy that keeps getting bigger even now.
Max Scherzer Blue Jays MLB strikeouts 3500 strikeouts Kyle Schwarber Trae Turner Cy Young Justin Verlander Nolan Ryan Randy Johnson