The biggest Mets disappointment from 2022 that will redeem himself this year

Last offseason Max Scherzer shocked the baseball world by signing a 3 year, $130 million contract with the New York Mets. Heading into Spring Training, the baseball world was buzzing about the historic pairing of Scherzer and his co-ace potentially bringing a World Series to New York.

The thought of the two pitchers who have a combined 5 Cy Young awards pitching together was left mostly to the imagination, as deGrom made just 12 starts in 2022. Scherzer on the other hand posted one of the best regular seasons of his career, despite starting just 23 games. Scherzer threw 145.1 innings, struck out 30.6% of batters faced, posted a 2.29 ERA and a posted 4.4 WAR in his annugral season in Queens.

Despite posting one of the best seasons of his career in 2022, Scherzer got absolutely rocked in his one postseason start. Scherzer gave up seven hits, seven runs, four home runs, and struck out just four in 4.2 innings in In game 1 of the Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres.

Scherzer was brought here to help the Mets win in October but failed to complete his assignment. For that reason, his 2022 season was a major disappointment.

Playoff Max Scherzer was the biggest NY Mets disappointment of 2022, but he will redeem himself in 2023

Scherzer injured his side in a start against Washington in early September and never fully recovered, which likely contributed to his playoff struggles. Despite the rough end to 2022, the future is bright for Scherzer.

Scherzer has had a full offseason to recover and he will be back to his Cy Young form this season. The afformentioned deGrom departed to Texas this offseason, and even with the addition of 2022 AL Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander, Scherzer will take the reigns as ace of the New York Mets.

Scherzer projects to again be an ace in 2023 and one of the premiere pitchers in baseball. Fangraph’s projects Scherzer with the 6th best WAR among starting pitchers, 11th best ERA, 9th best FIP, 13th most innings pitched, 8th best BABIP, 12th best K\9 and 5th best BB\9.

When Billy Eppler and Steve Cohen handed Scherzer the largest AAV per season in MLB history in November 2021, it was with the thought that Scherzer not just pitch them to October, but deep into October.

Scherzer is a playoff veteran who has thrown 133.1 innings over the course of 27 career postseason starts. Scherzer has a career 3.58 playoff ERA, holds opposing batters to a .201 average, and strikes just over 10.2 batters per nine.

Scherzer memorably started game 7 of the 2019 World Series for the Washington Nationals, the deciding game that handed Washington their first World Series in franchise history. Make no mistake, while his 2022 postseason start was brutal, Scherzer is the guy you want pitching for your team come October.

Scherzer will dominate the regular season again in 2022, but he will not be judged until October. He is an uber-competive pitcher who can be best described as a bulldog on the mound, so it is fair to assume that 2022 postseason start will eat at him, put a massive chip on his shoulder, and drive him to carry the Mets to the World Series crown in 2023.