Rangers in Need of a Revived Max Scherzer in Pivotal Game 3 Pitching Matchup

The veteran ace has made just two starts since returning from injury, but Texas will ask a lot of him with the series knotted at one game apiece heading back to Arizona.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Snakes are indeed alive. The Diamondbacks bounced back from their wrenching Game 1 loss in the World Series with a 9–1 victory over the Rangers in Game 2.

The series will now head to Phoenix split. Max Scherzer is expected to start Game 3 for the Rangers and rookie Brandon Pfaadt will go for the Diamondbacks. Here’s a rundown of what to watch for on Monday.

What Will the Rangers See From Scherzer?

Scherzer has now made two starts since missing more than a month with a strained muscle in his shoulder. Neither has gone exactly according to plan; he was tagged with the loss in Game 3 of the ALCS after giving up five runs and was yanked in the third inning in Game 7.

Scherzer has made just two starts since missing over a month with a shoulder injury, but will take the bump for the Rangers in a pivotal Game 3 :: AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Texas manager Bruce Bochy said Scherzer should be fully stretched out now. “He could give us length,” Bochy told reporters on Saturday. “I’ve talked to him about this. He’s comfortable pretty much throwing like he normally does. Maybe not quite as long as he’s been over 100 pitches, whatever, but pretty close.” 

A fully healthy, back-to-form Scherzer would be a boon to the Rangers, especially after the team had to use so much of its bullpen in the first two games of the series. But Scherzer hasn’t thrown 75 pitches or more since September 1. In a season that’s been full of trials for him, the veteran has struggled with consistency, and what he can do in Game 3 remains an open question.

Texas vs. Brandon Pfaadt’s Sweeper

No team hit the sweeper as well as the Rangers in 2023. Their collective wOBA on the pitch was .324—well above the league average of .270. That should come in handy against Pfaadt in Game 3. The sweeper is a key part of the rookie’s arsenal: He throws it roughly 30% of the time and often turns to it as a putaway pitch. In his last start, Game 7 of the NLCS, he used it as his primary offering. Pfaadt had great success getting the Phillies to chase it: 10 of their 14 swings on his sweeper were whiffs. But he should have more difficulty executing that against the Rangers.

Pfaadt had tremendous success with his sweeper against the Phillies during the NLCS :: AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

Pfaadt’s playoff performance has been a welcome surprise for the D-Backs. The righty had a 5.72 ERA in the regular season and was streaky right through late September. But he’s shone in his four playoff starts. Just don’t expect much length: Arizona manager Torey Lovullo has taken a fairly quick hook with Pfaadt in October and has let him finish the fifth just once this postseason.

Whither the Rangers’ Swing and Miss?

The Rangers got 14 strikeouts against the D-Backs in Game 1. They got… two in Game 2. Now, much of that can be attributed to starter Jordan Montgomery, who registered just two whiffs on his 75 pitches. It was his lowest swing-and-miss total of the year. (He’d recorded fewer than five whiffs in a game just once this year: He had four against the Cubs in May.) But the bullpen didn’t do much here either. The only strikeouts came in the eighth inning, one by Chris Stratton, one by Martín Pérez. There was plenty else that went wrong for the Rangers in Game 2. But this was highly unusual—it was only the second time all year they had struck out two or fewer hitters in a game—and it’s something they can’t repeat if they hope to bounce back in Game 3.