Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer registered his 3,500th career strikeout in the first inning of Wednesday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Scherzer wasted no time, striking out leadoff batter Kyle Schwarber to join the exclusive club.
(Video source: MLB.com)
Scherzer is the 11th pitcher in Major League Baseball history to reach the milestone.
Scherzer may well end up as the final pitcher to record 3,500 strikeouts. There are only six active pitchers with at least 2,000 career strikeouts, including Scherzer and leader Justin Verlander. Next on the list is 37-year-old Chris Sale, who entered Wednesday with 2,665 strikeouts. Scherzer, Verlander, and Sale are the only active pitchers with more than 2,500.
The majority of Scherzer's strikeouts came with the Washington Nationals, where he spent seven seasons and won two of his three Cy Young awards. He notched over 1,000 Ks with both the Nationals and Detroit Tigers.
Scherzer had to wait nearly two months to become a part of the historic group after a prolonged stint on the injured list. Wednesday's start was his first since April 24.
Unfortunately for Scherzer, the milestone strikeout was the only thing that went right for him versus Philadelphia. The future Hall of Famer allowed five runs on five hits, including two homers, in 3 1/3 innings of work. He struck out four but also walked three during the abbreviated outing.
The 41-year-old now owns a career-worst 10.23 ERA and 1.73 WHIP across 22 innings in 2026.
