Max never should have been given that long a leash in relief, or even used in relief in the first place. In the 2017 NLDS game 3 where Max was used in the role for which he had been trained and prepared all season, he carried a no-hitter through 6 and left with a lead but his offense could not score more than one run. That’s not on him. That’s on the offense. The offense got completely shut out in Game 1. If they’d won either of these missed opportunities, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Max absolutely set the team up to win game 3 but he can’t make them hit the ball.
Max only lasting 6 1/3 is not exactly the Max Scherzer that we all know and love in the spring and early summer.
He was obviously not 100%, but tried to push through it the best he could. Scherzer and Harper not being 100% fully recovered from their injuries was probably the biggest reason we didn't win that series.
Strasburg's strategy of taking a month off in the middle of summer and ramping up to the playoffs seemed to work well. Maybe they both need to do that this year. I'm kind of kidding, but it just doesn't seem possible to pitch deep into games over the 162 game season and the playoffs without breaking down at some point.
