Max Scherzer recording 3,000th strikeout as a Dodger is an epic 2021 twist

The 2021 MLB season has been full of surprises and the Los Angeles Dodgers delivered one of the biggest at the trade deadline when they swiped Max Scherzer and Trea Turner in a blockbuster deal with the Washington Nationals.

Scherzer?! On the Dodgers?! After it was reported the San Diego Padres were acquiring him?! Even for Dodgers fans, it was a little bit hard to envision Scherzer leaving the nation’s capital, where he’s spent the last six-plus years, for the enemy, was unthinkable. For much of the 2021 season, many didn’t even think he’d be traded.

Well, now he’s repping Dodger Blue, and he’s the NL Cy Young favorite. If that wasn’t bad enough for Nationals fans (and everyone who hates LA), Scherzer recorded his 3,000th career strikeout with the Dodgers, becoming one of 19 pitchers in history to achieve the feat.

Whip out those 2021 bingo cards! You didn’t have that one!

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1437167543026921480?s=20

Max Scherzer recorded his 3,000th career strikeout as a Los Angeles Dodger.

He got Eric Hosmer on that filthy slider. Dodgers win, 8-0 and sweep the Padres … again. Scherzer has now blanked them twice since joining LA after getting rocked in two outings as a National.

You just knew he was going to hit the career-defining milestone after he threw an immaculate inning earlier in the game, too … which tied Sandy Koufax’s record! This is how he set the tone:

Mad Max finished with eight shutout innings of one-run ball. He struck out nine. The Dodgers still haven’t lost a game in which he’s pitched this season. And somehow this rotation feels even scarier than it did heading into this season, despite the losses of Dustin May and Trevor Bauer as well as the extended absence of Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers have been the best organization in the sport for the better part of the last decade when it comes to overall record and playoff appearances. And they finally got their first championship of that stretch last year. Never did fans think they’d have two future Hall of Famers toeing the rubber for LA in the same season. It’s just not fair.

Scherzer’s achieved SO much in his career on the Tigers and Nationals, and this is how the baseball gods repay the everyday fan?!

Just wait until he storming ahead for his second World Series ring with the Dodgers …

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