JV, Scherzer finally face off for first time

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

They’ve combined for 467 career wins, 6,118 2/3 innings pitched, six Cy Young Awards and five no-hitters, but Astros pitcher Justin Verlander and Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer have never faced each other. That will change when the two likely future Hall of Famers start Wednesday’s series finale between the Astros and Rangers in Arlington.

Verlander had a feeling the matchup against Scherzer would finally materialize when both were traded to the Lone Star State from the Mets in July and inserted into the middle of the American League West race, but this is about more than that. This is Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird. This is history.

“I think we’ve both been around long enough to understand the nature of the business,” Verlander said. “I think it’s exciting. Not too often in baseball anymore do you get matchups between two guys that have had the career him and I have had. I think it’s exciting for baseball, it’s exciting for us, I’m sure it’s exciting for him. I hope.”

The 40-year-old Verlander (254) and 39-year-old Scherzer (213) are ranked first and third, respectively, on the active wins list and are second and third — behind Zack Greinke (3,370) — on the active innings pitched list. Verlander has 3,292 1/3 career innings, and Scherzer has thrown 2,826 1/3 innings.

“This will be fun,” Scherzer said. “Like my whole career, I’ve gotten to face all the best guys in the world, and I’ve gotten to play with all the best guys in the world. So I’ve got to play with Ver for a while now as you know, so this is going to be fun to actually go up against him. But for me, I’m going against their lineup, it’s not necessarily like I’m going up against him. We don’t get to hit against each other. But no, it’ll be fun to compete against him.”

This is the first time in history two former Cy Young winners began a season as teammates and faced each other later in the season while on two different teams than they started the year, according to Elias. Here are more facts about the Verlander-Scherzer matchup, according to Elias:

• It’s the first matchup in which both starters had at least three Cy Young Awards since Scherzer (three) and Clayton Kershaw (three) of the Dodgers on April 11, 2021.

• It’s the first matchup in which both starters had at last 3,000 strikeouts since Roger Clemens (4,668 strikeouts) of the Yankees and Curt Schilling (3,108) of the Red Sox on Sept. 16, 2007.

• It’s the first matchup of two pitchers with at least 200 wins since CC Sabathia (208) of the Yankees and Mark Buehrle (202) of the Blue Jays on May 6, 2015.

• The last starting pitching matchup with as many as 467 wins was between Greg Maddux (354) of the Dodgers and Barry Zito (122) of the Giants on Sept. 19, 2008 (476 wins).

It’s no secret Verlander and Scherzer weren’t on the best of terms when they were teammates early in their career with the Tigers, but they grew closer during their short time with the Mets this year. They were older, wiser, had become fathers and put their past differences behind them.

“I look back at our time in Detroit, not that it ever became really bad, but I think some if got blown out of proportion,” Verlander said. “It was just two highly competitive guys who were trying to find their foothold in the game and were very competitive and had very strong opinions about the way they went about their business. I think looking at each other through a different lens, it’s two guys who went about things differently. There’s more than one way to be successful.

“I can’t speak for Max, but for myself this time around it was more of … we had good conversations about the way he sees things, the way I see things, and how that can be beneficial. Whether you take one thing, 10 things or something, anything, from each other to make you more successful, that’s what it’s about. I think we’ve always been a couple of guys who like to share our opinions with some of the younger guys and try to help them.”

When they reunited with the Mets this spring, they talked about how each had evolved through the years. They shared information and leaned on each other to bring out of the best in themselves. Rivals become friends who will on Wednesday become friendly rivals.

“I think both Max and I were very open about some of the things we’ve done we thought helped our careers,” Verlander said. “I think we both appreciated that. There are some trade secrets you learn and those things are valuable. You just don’t give them away for nothing. And so, I think we both appreciated the information and openness we had with one another.”