Attention Mets Fans! Ex-Ace Max Scherzer To Start For Texas Vs. Astros In ALCS Game 3

Max Scherzer will pitch in the Major League Baseball postseason for his third team in four years on Wednesday when his Texas Rangers host the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in Arlington.

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the ALCS with a 5-4 win Monday night at Houston.

Rangers Take 2-0 Lead Over Astros In ALCS

Surely, if New York Mets owner Steven Cohen wants to attend, the Rangers brass can find a spot for him. After all Cohen will be continuing to pay off most of the $86.6 million, two-year contract that Scherzer signed for with the Mets before the 2022 season when he left the Los Angeles Dodgers. That will be $64.1 million to be exact. Scherzer is the first player in MLB history to continue to draw salaries from three teams - the Dodgers, the Mets and the Rangers.

Max Scherzer pitching for the Mets in the 2022 season when he went 11-5 with a 2.29 ERA and helped lead the team to a 101-61 record. (Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images)

The Rangers hope to get the biggest bang for their buck. A Scherzer win or quality start for a Rangers' bullpen win will get Texas within one win of their first World Series since back-to-back unsuccessful trips in 2010 and '11.

Max Scherzer Traded To Texas Rangers In July

Scherzer went 11-5 with a 2.29 ERA in 2022 for the 101-61 Mets, but he went 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in the postseason as the Mets lost in the Wild Card round to San Diego. He pitched for the Dodgers in the 2021 postseason and also went 0-1 with a 2.16 ERA. Scherzer was 6-3 with a 2.40 ERA in 2019 for the Washington Nationals and a key to their World Series title that season.

The three-time Cy Young winner was 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 2023 for the Mets. But Cohen conducted a fire sale as the team fell out of the race in July before finishing 75-87 for fourth.

Cohen also dealt three-time Cy Young winner and two-time Astros World Series champ Justin Verlander back to Houston at the last trade deadline. Verlander lost to the Rangers, 2-0, in the ALCS opener on Sunday night.

Houston right-hander Christian Javier (10-5, 5.46 ERA regular season, 1-0, 0.00 ERA postseason) will oppose the right-handed Scherzer (13-6, 3.77 ERA with Mets and Rangers) on Wednesday (8 p.m., FS1). Scherzer was 4-2 with a 3.20 with the Rangers this season before missing the last few weeks of the regular season with an injury to his upper throwing arm.

Rangers Move To 7-0 In Postseason

Texas moved to 7-0 in the postseason with the win Monday night and will play just its second home game since the regular season ended. Teams in the history of the MLB best-of-seven series that open 2-0 win 84 percent of the time.

Texas Rangers reliever Jose Leclerc earned the save against the Astros in a 5-4 win Monday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

"We want to carry this momentum home," said Texas winning pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, who went to 3-0 in the postseason. He allowed five hits and three runs in six innings with nine strikeouts. That included solo home runs to Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez, but Houston could never overcome a 5-1 lead Texas took in the third inning. The Rangers went up 4-0 in the first inning off Houston starter and loser Frumber Valdez.

Astros Had Their Chances Against Rangers

Eovaldi escaped a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the bottom of the fifth by striking out Yainer Diaz and Jose Altuve and getting Bregman to ground out to third.

"We've just got to keep our heads down," Eovaldi said. "We've got six more wins to go."

That would be two more in the ALCS and four in the World Series. That would mean more starts for Max Scherzer and more viewing from the Mets Nation.