Adnan Virk

So for the Mariners, you see, all right, Luis Castillo is going to shove.

He's going to be brilliant.

And for Scherzer, as you mentioned, he's been tired for a while.

He had an 8.79 ERA his last four postseason starts going back to 2002.

As far as recent vintage, his last starts in the month of September –

had an ERA over 10, and in the first inning, an ERA of 12.64.

There's no reason Max Scherzer should pitch like he did last night, and yet he was throwing his fastest fastball in a year and a half, and he did so with a curveball, which he basically invented later in his career.

He threw 10 curveballs all for strikes, and four of his five strikeouts came on that very same curveball.

But all that gets obscured by, as you mentioned, that wonderful tête-à-tête with John Schneider.

Now, when Schneider runs to the mound like that, as Buck Martinez and Dan Schulman said, that's him basically going to check on his pitcher just to say, are you good?

Well, Max clearly was furious and yelled, I'm good, let's go.

And John Schneider scurried back to the dugout, terrified to do anything else.

Max Scherzer, I don't think, Dan, it would have been hysterical if Brandi Rosarito had then taken him deep.

But thankfully, Scherzer gets out of it.

And then they said they can't take him out in the next inning.

Everyone's scared to take him out.

He starts the sixth inning, gets a couple outs.

This time, John Schneider quickly motions to his left arm, allows nothing to be said.

But 87 pitches, as you said, a willful performance at 41 years of age.

That was Max Scherzer's 500th start, regular season and postseason.