Like a tightrope walker reaching the platform, Max Scherzer can exhale now. He made it across. Working without a net this season, on a one-year contract he chose over a six-year, $144-million offer in the spring, Scherzer has been flirting with grenades all season. A serious arm injury, a major surgery, and he might have always wondered "what if?"
Instead, Tigers fans soon may be wondering "what if?" because Scherzer, 30, is the juiciest apple in the upcoming free-agent basket, and there are a lot of rich and hungry teams out there. It would take a king's ransom to keep him. The New York Yankees, Boston, St. Louis (his hometown team) all loom as possible new employers.
None of which Scherzer wants to talk about now during the playoffs. Rightly so. But he is no doubt thinking about it. And while he does, he should think about staying here, in Detroit, a city that loves baseball and is ready to love him.
Because winning here — and staying here — is how you build a legacy.
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