Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: Max Scherzer Blames Misuse By Los Angeles For His Dead Arm

For the first time in 8 years, the Dodgers were not crowned division winners of the NL West after the San Francisco Giants narrowly edged out the reigning champs. Los Angeles gave everything they had and put up a good fight. They had some notable help in the form of Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, without either one of them, the division race would not have been as close as it was. 

Turner added a spark to the lineup and brought home a batting title, while the team won all 11 of Scherzer’s regular season. However, both of them disappointed in the playoffs when it mattered most. Turner forgot how to hit while Scherzer was unable to go in game 6 of the NLCS due to a dead arm. You know how the rest played out as the Dodgers fell to the Braves. 



Scherzer who has been a reliable workhorse for years was unable to deliver when the team needed him. According to The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli, Scherzer somewhat blamed how the Dodgers managed him as the cause for his dead arm issue.

It’s interesting that Scherzer would point to being limited as the issue and not the different workloads he had from 2020 to 2021. He threw 67 and 1/3 innings in 2020 compared to 179 and 1/3 innings in 2021. That’s a 112 inning difference and a huge jump to endure, especially for a veteran arm.

It’s also worth noting that he didn’t blame being used out of the bullpen in game 5 of the NLDS as a reason either. He did that in 2019 during the Nationals 2019 World Series run so he had the experience of doing so. Whatever the real issue, it didn’t seem to cost Scherzer a dime as was able to nab a pretty hefty new contract with the New York Mets.

Max Scherzer Blames Dodgers for Dead Arm, Did LA Mishandle Max? Truth About Max’s Dead Arm in LA

NEXT: Max Muncy Talks Losing Scherzer and the Team Outlook for 2022

26 Comments

  1. So now it looks like the Dodgers never really stood a chance to re-sign either Scherzer or Seager. So be it. Another quality starter in addition to Kershaw may be the way they will go

    It would be nice if that DA would get off his duff and make a decision re Bauer as Bauer’s fate certainly causes at least short-range complications

  2. Great, more fodder for the “Dodgers would never lose a game if they had a different manager” contingent. Still, you would have to assume any pitch count “limit” would be something that was decided farther up the masthead than the manager. Well, I’m sure the Mets, who really only have one other pitcher, will be glad to ride Scherzer until his arm falls completely off. Which will be before the third year of his contract.

    1. Oh sure, you guys will never believe ANYTHING regarding Drrrrrrrrrr not knowing WTF he’s doing. Here we go, 106 wins, the greatest REGULAR SEASON winning percentage. What’s the excuse this time? Like I’ve always said, Drrrrrrrr does less with more. But don’t take my word, it comes STRAIGHT FROM THE Horses mouth. The Drrrrrrrrrr factor , Scherzer telling the truth…..And BTW, this is what METRICS/Computer analytics and Percentage models do to the ART of pitching. The Shifts, the righty lefty paradigm, the PITCH COUNT B.S.. There’s a reason the pitchers of the 70’s 80’s were told to throw 9 innings. The Bull Dog and those pitchers did just fine without PITCH COUNTS!!!!

        1. ” Someone should ask Sandy what his opinion”

          He’s been asked 54,336,887 (roughly) times.
          .

          He just isn’t a putz that needs to whine about it.

          He gave his best. He got his rings,records, and God-like legacy.

          He seems just fine with how it all turned out.

      1. Kirk, good day. We both knew as well as other fans here did that Drrrrrr was totally negligent in his use of Scherzer as well as other pitchers. I’m so disgusted with this it’s not even funny. DRRRRRR MUST GO! Unbelievable but as you know I always say
        That’s Drrrrrr for ya. But it’s going to take a sub par season with more stupid blunders by him for Dodgers to wake up and ‘smell the coffee’

    2. No they’d lose games but they’d probably never lose a championship with a manager who gets more from his team not less. For example Bruce Bochy could win championships every season with these rosters

  3. That other pitcher is a huge question mark as well. Degrom didn’t pitch past July and has had previous problems staying on the field.

  4. “Dodgers limiting his pitch count and trying to keep him fresh ”

    Normally a team gets raked over the coals by fans and media for OVER working an arm.

    This putz is blaming LA for his pu$$y performance, because he was tooooooo rested???

    Sounds like a junior high excuse.

  5. Kuiper and Krukow said this (dead arm) is exactly what happened to not only Scherzer, but Buehler and Urias as well in the playoffs. Drrrrrr is an idiot. Time to right a 22-year wrong- bring back Scioscia!

  6. Scherzer is playing the blame game. He averaged around 98 pitches his last 9 starts of 2019. And in 2020???? He had 1 game with just one inning. The other starts he averaged 107.7. BUT — he had 7 games with an extra day of rest between starts. And he had 2 extra days twice. In 12 starts. So I would say yep Adam, playing a blame game. Got your big bucks Max. Be a bit more thankful. And I wish you well. We will be just fine.

  7. Absolutely agree. We were fine before Scherzer and we will be just fine after Scherzer. Whatever, Max. Goodbye.

  8. I don’t see averaging 96 pitches per start over his last 9 starts as a limited pitch count. 96 pitches is a decent days work for a starting pitcher and not materially different from his use in Washington. That said, our top 3 starting pitchers were out of gas by the time we reached the NLCS; that’s a systematic problem related to use and IMHO related to injuries on the staff.
    Go back to spring training and think about Dustin May hitting being allowed to hit triple digits that early in the season and DR setting up a phony competition for the 5th starter between May and Gonso. Everybody knew they both would be getting plenty of work in 2021; why make them compete for a spot in the rotation? They both ended up with injuries; it’s a reasonable assumption that how they ramped up after a shortened season contributed to their injuries, which then led to chaos and roster roulette! If you want to blame DR for poor leadership, that’s where your focus should be.

  9. Dodgers need to look back to their earlier days in Los Angeles, where they were the Tiffany team of baseball.

    Managers were consistently offered one year contracts and so they effectively had to prove their value every year. Don Mattingly couldn’t stand that custom, saying publicly that he felt like every year was an audition. Well, it was and it should be.

    Dave Roberts is a robot. He punches in the odds throughout the game and has his computer make the choices. The problem is, the computer can’t account for the intangibles and so talent is still required.

    And don’t think cache of getting the Dodgers into the playoffs every year has any value going into the new season. Casey Stengel was fired after losing the 1960 World Series to the Pirates.

    1. Mattingly also said the players won’t respect him unless he makes more money. Weird way to admit the players don’t respect you.

  10. I have never read any articles or seen any research that proves with statistical evidence that today’s pitchers have fewer injuries because of limited pitch counts. OK 150 is probably too much, but today the pitch count limits are ridiculous. It sure helped the Dodgers when Blake Snell was removed early

  11. Looking back at his start day tactics (no one can talk to him or touch him) and super pump celebrations, I think this guy is mainly about himself and not the team. Sure he wants the team to win when he starts but he also wants to get the W or else he’s not happy. You can blame Roberts for misusing him during the playoffs but a class act would never say the stuff he did, basically blaming the Dodgers for his poor performance during the playoffs. If he had pitched Game 6 with his dead arm and performed very poorly, he would never have gotten this big contract so he just “sat” out. Scherzer is all about Scherzer. We don’t need him, not for that amount. He’s yours Mets!

  12. It’s obvious he was completely mismanaged to a 7-0 record to end the season with the Dodgers.
    He got paid! Why he feels the need to blame the Dodgers for his inability to perform at the most critical time of the season just speaks to his character. I thought we had a warrior with Scherzer, but his true colors are showing. I look forward to seeing his dead arm in the June series at Dodger stadium.

    1. DBlue I am in complete agreement with you. The news conferences between this putz and Corey were night and day. Corey could not have been more positive in the way he spoke about his time with the Dodgers and this moron chose to take a path of the blame game. His comment on how others laid the ground work for his contract was total BS. Scherzer takes care of Scherzer PERIOD! I really do not wish anybody ill will, but I too look forward to the Dodgers beating the snot out of him and the Mets. I do believe he is the first Dodger pitcher given a curtain call and standing ovation and this a-hole gave the Dodgers the middle finger. The Dodgers are going to be just fine without him.

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