Blue Jays' Max Scherzer May Be MLB's Last 3,500-Strikeout Pitcher

Toronto Blue Jays hurler Max Scherzer put his name in the record books on Wednesday night and we may never see another pitcher do the same.

Scherzer has been around the block for a long time. He made his big league debut all the way back in 2008 and is in his 19th season in the big leagues. Scherzer has done it all. He has won two World Series titles, three Cy Young Awards, and he has been an All-Star eight times. He's led the league in wins four times. He's led the league in starts twice. He's led the league in innings pitched twice. Scherzer has led the league in strikeouts three times. And the list goes on and on. To sum up, he's been incredible and will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he hangs up his cleats.

Tip Your Cap For Max Scherzer

Jun 10, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer (31) celebrates his career 3500th strike out against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images | Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

On Wednesday, he reached another milestone as he became just the 11th pitcher in big league history to strike out 3,500 or more batters.

Max Scherzer joins the 3500 strikeout club!

He becomes the 11th pitcher in MLB history to do so, and strikes out his former teammate Kyle Schwarber to do it pic.twitter.com/5B4a7NxOGW
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 10, 2026

He joins Nolan Ryan (5,714), Randy Johnson (4,875), Rogers Clemens (4,672), Steve Carlton (4,136), Bert Blyleven (3,701), Tom Seaver (3,640), Don Sutton (3,574), Justin Verlander (3,554), Gaylord Perry (3,534) and Walter Johnson (3,509). Scherzer is just six strikeouts from tying Johnson for No. 10 on the all-time list and should easily surpass him.

This is a mark that Major League Baseball fans may never see again. First and foremost, it has only been done 11 times in history. So, it's not common, obviously. For Scherzer, it took 19 seasons and averaging 209 innings per season to reach the mark. In today's game, pitchers simply don't pitch as many innings as they once did. In 2025, Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants led baseball with 207 innings pitched. Garrett Crochet was second with 205 1/3 innings pitched. There were only three guys in baseball with 200 innings or more. To reach numbers, like Scherzer just did, you need to pitch a lot, stay healthy, and still be good in your later years.

Of the 11 hurlers with 3,500 or more strikeouts, Scherzer is the only one with under 3,000 innings pitched. He's at 2,985, so that will change this season. But Johnson, who is six strikeouts ahead of Scherzer, finished his career with 5914 1/3 innings pitched. Perry, who is ninth on the all-time strikeout list, pitched 5,350 innings. Verlander is the other active hurler on the list and he's at 3,571 13 innings pitched. So it has taken him over 500 more innings than Scherzer to tally 51 more strikeouts.

The closest active pitcher is Chris Sale with 2,671 strikeouts. Sale is incredible and had a run when he was the best strikeout artist in the game, but he's just under 900 strikeouts away and is 37 years old. Injuries robbed him of a legit shot at it. Next up is Gerrit Cole with 2,269 strikeouts, but he's 35 years old and also was robbed by injuries. It's a hard thing to do. But Scherzer accomplished it.

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