{"id":1828,"date":"2026-07-28T11:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1828"},"modified":"2026-07-28T11:38:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:38:02","slug":"max-scherzer-is-still-in-the-fight-these-nats-are-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1828","title":{"rendered":"Max Scherzer Is Still in the Fight. These Nats Are, Too."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A man spent his 42nd birthday pitching at Nationals Park on Monday night. And then everyone clapped for him. And then Max Scherzer waved.<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1826\">Commanders\u2019 David Blough Has Been Preparing for This Moment His Whole Life<\/a><\/p><p>And then \u2026 OK, wait. Look. There\u2019s a lot going on with the Nationals this week, important baseball things that, practically speaking, matter way more than looking back. When the present\u2019s good, when life suddenly goes from bleh to exciting again, you don\u2019t have to grip so tight to the past any longer, which is maybe just a winding description of happiness. And after losing, 3-2, to open a series against the struggling Blue Jays, the Nats keep hanging at 54-53, explosive on offense but still too imbalanced to pull much further from .500. With six days until the trade deadline, they\u2019re right on the edge of the wild-card race, meaning the reasons to buy or sell \u2014 or to do some combination of the two \u2014 feel like one of those DIY detective boards, the colored strings connecting a bunch of little clues.<\/p>\n<p>Depending, of course, on the player and the offers, could a couple of wins or losses really make a difference? Could, in theory, a single series determine whether the team trades Foster Griffin? Luis Garc\u00eda Jr.? What about, gulp, CJ Abrams?<\/p><p>That\u2019s how Blake Butera, the team\u2019s first-year manager, is talking. That\u2019s how Paul Toboni, the team\u2019s first-year president of baseball operations, has talked in recent interviews, too. The Nats are still exploring all options, which wouldn\u2019t be news around here if not for the last five Julys, when there was no strategic gray area, just different forms of dread.<\/p>\n<section>\n<div>\n<h2>\n<span>Trending<\/span>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Medication Health Ozempic\" class=\"wp-image-1783\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0d7c98a2d6d98dfac82ea0b11b8c0701-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0d7c98a2d6d98dfac82ea0b11b8c0701-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0d7c98a2d6d98dfac82ea0b11b8c0701-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0d7c98a2d6d98dfac82ea0b11b8c0701.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      RFK Jr.\u2019s Big Promise to Ban Pharmaceutical Ads Is in the Slow Lane\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Stickers for Graham Platner\" class=\"wp-image-1799\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6b8512728daaa43a3758e4a6e136a890-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6b8512728daaa43a3758e4a6e136a890-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6b8512728daaa43a3758e4a6e136a890-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6b8512728daaa43a3758e4a6e136a890.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      A Former Platner Aide Says Morris Katz Has \u2018Main Character Energy\u2019\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin\" class=\"wp-image-1747\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9589f7171cc79dcb83bde7308da6885a-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9589f7171cc79dcb83bde7308da6885a-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9589f7171cc79dcb83bde7308da6885a-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9589f7171cc79dcb83bde7308da6885a.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      The DNC Put Up Its Headquarters as Collateral to Obtain Its Massive Loan\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sen. Mike Lee\" class=\"wp-image-1813\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4f740ca469a288f4168d5ad63e290cdd-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4f740ca469a288f4168d5ad63e290cdd-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4f740ca469a288f4168d5ad63e290cdd-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4f740ca469a288f4168d5ad63e290cdd.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      Mike Lee\u2019s Threats to Nix August Recess Are Infuriating His Colleagues\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>\u201cThe last thing we want to do here is play games where it doesn\u2019t really matter, right?\u201d Butera said before Monday\u2019s game. \u201cWe want to avoid that as long as possible. I know I haven\u2019t been at this level, but in the minor leagues I never coached a game in August or September that was like: \u2018Oh we\u2019re out of it and we\u2019re just trying to get to the end of the season and we have to get into the offseason.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to know what that feels like. What\u2019s going on right now \u2026\u201d<\/p><p>And that\u2019s when Butera started tapping the table in front of him.<\/p><p>Quick taps, like he was testing a microphone.<\/p><p>\u201cHow these games feel and how important each one seems to be, is what I want to feel and I think what we all want to feel for as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span><i>Sign up for the NOTUS Metro newsletter for essential coverage of the D.C. region<\/i><\/span><i>.<\/i><\/p><p>Which sounds a lot like when Max Scherzer was on the team. Which is why, no matter how much is happening right now, trade deadline or otherwise, Monday might have made you feel something else, something raw, something about how it once was and how fast it all goes. Was it the way he kept throwing his arms out, just like he used to, as if they\u2019ll fall off if he stops moving them? The solo walk \u2014 no, stalk \u2014 from the bullpen before the top of the first? Those waves before he exited to a standing ovation, quite possibly for the last time in this stadium, right as he stepped on the P in an on-field advertisement for AARP?<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1824\">What $1.2 Million Gets You in D.C., Maryland and Virginia<\/a><\/p><p>I bet it was <span><u>the waves<\/u><\/span>.<\/p><p>\u201cThe great moments that we had with my time here in D.C., those are just things you never forget,\u201d Scherzer <span><u>said<\/u><\/span> after the game. \u201cSo coming back here is a good trip down memory lane.\u201d<\/p><p>Scherzer, more than any active player, is a reminder of very good days in Washington, of moments and seasons that will stretch into forever. There used to be his blue and brown eyes above right field and now it\u2019s a Toyota ad. But if you, like me, are into connecting narrative dots, he\u2019s also a reminder of how long it\u2019s been since this city could feel what it\u2019s feeling this month. That each game can mean something. That it\u2019s not pointless to care.<\/p><p>Five years ago this week, the dread began. That was when, after a team with Scherzer, Trea Turner, Juan Soto and a hobbled Kyle Schwarber wasn\u2019t good enough, the Nats completed a full teardown by trading Scherzer and Turner to the Dodgers. For Nationals fans, the half decade since had brought little joy until this season. And for Scherzer, it\u2019s included stops in L.A., New York, Texas and Toronto, which has all aged him a good bit, which is what happens in baseball when you\u2019re 42 and not ready to quit the only adult job you\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n<p>Forearm and back issues have limited him to 24 \u2154 innings this year. On Monday, in his first start back from the injured list, he needed 75 pitches to record eight outs, which meant his night ended before the third inning did. He labored right away, loading the bases in the first before stranding the three runners. In the second, Garc\u00eda, the only current Nat who played with Scherzer, tagged him for an RBI double. Then to finish his outing, Scherzer struck out Daylen Lile, who was 4 when the Diamondbacks drafted Scherzer in the first round in 2006.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re all getting old,\u201d Scherzer said of himself and Justin Verlander (and also everyone, in theory). \u201cAll of our bodies are not quite the same.\u201dBut the stadium wasn\u2019t dotted with Scherzer jerseys because anyone expected him to dominate. No, it was dotted with his name, with his No. 31 in white and red, because of what he meant to you, you and yes, you, too, because your heart wasn\u2019t always so cold. Because for six and a half years, Scherzer did what so few athletes can, which was make almost everything he did must-watch, all the way down to how he vibrated in the dugout. Because he once pitched a day after breaking his nose, when his right eye \u2014 the blue one \u2014 looked as if it had been jabbed by Mike Tyson. Because when he did dominate, it looked like two Cy Young Awards, two no-hitters and a World Series ring.<\/p><p>Twice in his postgame interview Monday, he threw out buzz phrases from the 2019 title run, which are apparently burned into his vocabulary. He said the Blue Jays just have to go 1-0 every day. He said, when asked about striking out Lyle, that it\u2019s just a matter of staying in the fight, especially with how hard it\u2019s been for him to stick on the mound.<\/p><p>Five years is long enough to change a lot of things. But it\u2019s also, in this small corner of the universe, long enough for things to start changing back.<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1822\">Democrats Fret Over DNC Woes but Don\u2019t Call for Martin to Go<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five years after his trade kicked off the Nationals&#8217; rebuild, the World Series hero returned to his former home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Max Scherzer Is Still in the Fight. 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