Silly Max Scherzer ejection gives Dodgers fans joy about Mets’ massive contract

The Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Trea Turner and Max Scherzer at the 2021 MLB trade deadline. Scherzer was in the last year of his contract while Turner had one more year left in LA. Both players ended up leaving the Dodgers once their contracts expired.

Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the New York Mets but, as good as he was in his short stint in LA, it wasn't hard to blame the Dodgers for not wanting to pay that contract. When Scherzer criticized the team for being cautious with his workload after he left, he officially made himself an enemy of Dodgers fans.

The three-time Cy Young winner did not get a chance to pitch in front of Dodgers fans in 2022 as he missed the Mets' series in LA. Thus, Scherzer made his long-awaited return to Dodger Stadium on Wednesday afternoon and it ended in the most hilarious, perfect way possible: an ejection for sticky stuff.

Max Scherzer ejection and subsequent meltdown is comedy gold for Dodgers fans

It's always good to have someone as fired up as Scherzer on your roster, especially when he's the one with the ball on the mound. However, once he leaves the team and fires some shots on his way out, that behavior becomes incredibly easy to root against. That makes this ejection all the sweeter for Dodgers fans.

The Mets are not even halfway through Scherzer's contract and it's already clear LA dodged a bullet by not paying big money to bring Scherzer back. Wednesday's ejection is a nice reminder of this, but it's not the sole reason why.

While Scherzer pitched well last season, he spent a sizable amount of time on the IL and only made 23 starts as a result. That has carried over in 2023, where he now has a 3.72 ERA after his four innings against the Dodgers. That's quite the price to pay for someone who made fewer than 27 starts and is struggling this season.

Scherzer also struggled in the playoffs last year just like he did with the Dodgers, which left many fans wondering where the dead-arm excuses came from. The Padres hit four home runs and scored seven runs off of Scherzer in only 4.1 innings of work in the National League Wild Card series. The Mets paid $130 million for that!

But hey, at least Scherzer can say that he spun three scoreless innings against the Dodgers in an April afternoon game that he also got ejected from. That is well worth his $43.3 million salary.