For as intense as Max Scherzer can be on the mound, the Blue Jays pitcher has a great sense of humour off of it.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner agreed to return to the Jays early last week, officially signing a one-year contract with a base salary of $3 million US.
After the deal initially was reported, the pitcher’s wife, Erica May-Scherzer, took to Instagram and posted an adorable letter to the team, asking the Jays to bring back her father for another run at the World Series.
Scherzer revealed on Tuesday that the note penned by his 8-year-old daughter, Brooke, came about as his children were writing letters to Santa Claus in December.
“It’s the cutest thing you can possibly imagine when you read that, how much it meant to her to be in Toronto,” Scherzer told reporters in Dunedin, Fla., on Tuesday after his deal was finalized.
Scherzer said his kids were writing their Christmas lists when Brooke asked him and Erica for a stamp and then put it on a sealed envelope.
After Brooke went to bed, they opened the letter to see what she had written.
What did the letter say?
“Dear Blue Jays,” the note began, “I am so sorry that you didn’t win the World Series. I hope that you win next time. I hope my dad is back on the team.
“My whole family loves spending time in Toronto with our dad. We loved the aquarium, the (CN) Tower and of course the stadium. I am looking forward to come back next season.”
The letter was signed “Love, Max Scherzer daughter.”
Scherzer joked that they didn’t send the letter to the team, adding that it probably wouldn’t have helped him at the bargaining table.
“That’s a bad negotiating tactic,” Scherzer said with a laugh.
Why did Scherzer choose to return to Toronto?
The 41-year-old pitcher, who won the World Series with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023, said that he returned to Toronto because he feels that the team has what it takes to make the next step and win it all.
“Obviously we came as close as you possibly can to winning the whole thing — something you can never get over, forget or anything of that nature,” he said. “That was a huge reason why I wanted to come back. This team can win. I wanted to be a part of it.”
He also said that there were only a few teams he considered signing with this off-season, with Toronto clearly among the top potential destinations.
“Free agency is a weird animal,” Scherzer said. “I’ve been through it many times. You think it’s going to go one way and it goes another way. I kind of knew not to get my hopes up, but like I said, I was going to be picky about where I went. I wasn’t just going to sign with anybody. There was only a couple of teams I’d sign with at this point in time, and obviously Toronto was one of them.”
While Scherzer’s 2026 contract has a low base salary, it could climb by as much as $10 million extra if he hits incentives.
After reaching 65 innings pitched on the season, Scherzer will earn a bonus of $1 million for each additional 10 innings pitched, all the way up to 155 IP.
The pitching legend was a popular figure in the Jays clubhouse last season, an experienced and forceful voice that was significant the deeper the team went in the playoffs.
He had been on a one-year deal for the 2025 season, but had made it clear following Game 7 of the World Series that he wasn’t ready to retire.
Key performances in post-season
In a regular season limited by injuries, Scherzer was healthy enough to return for the playoffs and add some key performances. That included a 5.2-inning, five-strikeout win in Game 4 of the ALCS against the visiting Seattle Mariners — when he famously stared down John Schneider as the manager headed to the mound to take him out of the game — and a brilliant stretch of 4.1 innings in that fateful Game 7 of the World Series in which the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the title in extra innings.
Scherzer went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in his 17 regular-season starts, pitching just 85 innings. That limited workload — as thumb problems were an ongoing concern — kept him ready for the post-season.
He made three playoff starts in total, including two against the Dodgers in that epic Fall Classic.
— with Rob Longley files