Scherzer throws 73 pitches in rehab start, showing good form; Blue Jays rotation desperately needs injured players back

The Toronto Blue Jays are very close to getting a wave of "good news" on the pitching side. In 2026, that still feels strange.

Today it was Max Scherzer's turn to start for the Buffalo Bisons. He is the middle link in this series of rehab outings, following Dylan Cease who pitched on Friday, and ahead of another Cy Young winner, Shane Bieber, who will close it out tomorrow.

Scherzer pitched 3.2 innings, throwing 73 pitches, allowing five hits and three runs, with one walk and five strikeouts. Beyond the workload, his most important data came from the radar gun: his fastball averaged 93.4 mph and topped out at 95.7 mph. For the 41-year-old veteran, these are encouraging numbers.

Getting Scherzer back is step one. The Blue Jays face the loss of José Berríos (Tommy John surgery) and Cody Ponce (ACL surgery) for the season, along with Bowden Francis (Tommy John surgery), who would have already been getting starts if healthy. That's nearly an entire major league rotation sitting on the injured list—and a strong one at that.

Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, and Patrick Corbin deserve credit for their performances, but the string of injuries forces manager John Schneider, pitching coach Pete Walker, and the Blue Jays coaching staff to face new challenges every day.

Before today's game against the Orioles, when asked if he had already arranged a starter for tomorrow's second game, Schneider could only shake his head and laugh. "Why would I?" Schneider joked.

However, getting Scherzer back and having him pitch effective major league innings is another part of the puzzle. Over the past two seasons with the Blue Jays, he has been hampered by injuries ranging from his thumb, forearm, and elbow to his ankle. We have rarely seen Scherzer near 100 percent, and the reality is that he posted a 5.99 ERA over 22 starts for the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays don't need Scherzer to add a fourth Cy Young to his Hall of Fame resume, but they do need him to provide more reliable innings. When Cease and Bieber are both healthy, having a dependable fourth (or fifth…) starter who can deliver consistent, predictable outings will be invaluable.

Scherzer also has a milestone ahead of him. When he went on the injured list, he was just one strikeaway from becoming the 11th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,500 career strikeouts.

Cease update

If everything goes well in the coming days, we might see Cease slide directly into the Blue Jays' starting rotation during the upcoming home series against the Phillies at Rogers Centre next Tuesday.

Cease threw 75 pitches in his rehab start for the Bisons on Friday. Considering he hasn't missed much time due to a hamstring injury, his pitch count is still in decent shape. If Cease returns, the Blue Jays are expected to be slightly cautious in his first outing, with a pitch count closer to 95 than 115, before removing the restrictions afterward.

Next step: long relievers to eat innings

Chad Dallas impressed in his MLB debut against the Braves on Thursday, but he was optioned on Friday to make room for an old friend, Simeon Woods Richardson. The Blue Jays drafted and developed Woods Richardson into the organization's No. 4 prospect before trading him to the Twins in 2021 for José Berríos. So this reunion is long overdue.

"He originally had a good changeup, but it seems he turned it into more of a split-finger fastball," Schneider explained. "Also, there's the shape of his fastball. Our pitching coach is really good at that—looking for opportunities to adjust a pitcher's arsenal. Maybe he should go back to more two-seam fastballs instead of just four-seamers, but that's also his own idea. We'll listen to him too."

For now, Woods Richardson will be available out of the bullpen. Similar to Spencer Miles, he will be used as a long reliever to help absorb innings during these bullpen days. However, as the Blue Jays' starters begin to return, these roles may become squeezed.