The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #24 Max Scherzer

Powering into the list at #24 is the modern-day workhorse, Max Scherzer. Although Mad Max is still padding his resume, what he has accomplished so far is pretty remarkable. Over his first 12 seasons as a full-time starter, Scherzer won three Cy Young awards and finished in the top-5 seven consecutive seasons which is tied for the longest streak in history (Greg Maddux and Clayton Kershaw). He led the league in wins, WHIP, and strikeout-to-walk ratio four times each, and strikeouts three times. Scherzer’s most impressive feats are the ones that nobody else has duplicated. He is the only pitcher in MLB history with at least four seasons with an era below 3.00, a WHIP below .97, and at least 265 strikeouts, and he did it in four consecutive seasons. Among pitchers with at least 2,000 career innings, Scherzer is the only pitcher in history with a K% above 28 and a BB% below 7.0. In his Cy Young-winning season of 2013, he became the only pitcher in history with at least 32 starts, a .875 winning percentage, and a K% over 28. Scherzer and Johan Santana are the only two pitchers in history to lead the league in WHIP and strikeouts three years in a row. Among pitchers with at least 2,000 career innings, he’s second all-time in strikeout-to-walk ratio and K/9. Scherzer was also a postseason force, leading Detroit and Washington to a combined seven playoff appearances over nine seasons, and holding the postseason record for career K/9 among pitchers with at least 110 innings. Scherzer led the Nationals to the 2019 World Series title, going 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA over 30 postseason innings.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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