Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Shohei Ohtani does on the mound tonight in a potential clincher.
In today’s SI:AM:
🐅 Vintage Flacco
😬 Trouble for Steelers
💰 Cignetti’s giant deal
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They’re not done yet
How often are the two biggest stars in sports on a given night a 40- and a 41-year-old?
Thursday night was all about a couple of old guys—Joe Flacco and Max Scherzer—who stepped up in unexpected ways when their teams needed them.
Flacco threw for 342 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions as he led the Bengals to a last-second 33–31 win over the Steelers. Less than two weeks after being dumped by the Browns and traded to Cincinnati, Flacco secured an impressive win over a division rival to bring the Bengals’ record to 3–4. Cleveland, meanwhile, is languishing at 1–5.
It was one of Flacco’s best games in years—just the third time in the past decade that he’d thrown for at least 300 yards with three or more touchdowns and no picks. More importantly, the Bengals came away with the win and are still in the thick of the playoff hunt. Flacco’s performance gave the Bengals hope that they can stay afloat until Joe Burrow is ready to return from his turf toe injury (reportedly in mid-December).
“He brought a spark to this team,” running back Chase Brown said of Flacco. “Quick distribution, confidence and he’s extremely poised. He’s unbothered. Someone that has played in the NFL as long as he has, he is going to bring confidence no matter what but he’s doing a good job getting the ball out, putting it where it needs to be and letting our playmakers do our thing.”
But as great as Flacco was, Scherzer was even better. The Blue Jays needed a great start from him in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, and they got it.
Scherzer had not pitched since Sept. 24 (22 days ago), and now Toronto was calling on him in a critical Game 4, trailing 2–1 in the series. If Scherzer pitched like he did in that start in September (10 hits and four runs allowed in a 7–1 loss to the Red Sox), the Jays would be on the brink of elimination. If he pitched more like the former Cy Young winner he is, the Jays would have a chance to even the series. Luckily for Toronto, it was the latter.
Scherzer wasn’t as dominant as some other top-line starters have been this postseason, but he was more than good enough to give his team a chance to win. He went 5 ⅔ innings, allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks. (One of the runs scored after Scherzer had been pulled from the game when Mason Fluharty allowed an RBI single to Eugenio Suárez.)
Even if Scherzer wasn’t razor sharp, the context makes it a fantastic performance—the long layoff, the high stakes, the fiery interaction with manager John Schneider when Schneider went to the mound with two outs in the fifth.
“I tell the starters, if I walk to the mound, you’re coming out. If I jog, you can talk me out of it,” Schneider said of that moment after the game. “I started walking. He just went, ‘NO!’ So I proceeded to jog. Before I got there, he goes, ‘I’m good. I’m f---ing good!’ I said, ‘Are you? Are you sure?’ And he went, ‘YEAH!’ And I went, you better f---ing execute then. And he said, ‘I f---ing will!’”
How amped up was Scherzer? Consider this: the 96.5 mph fastball he threw to Cal Raleigh on a 1–2 count in the first inning was the fastest pitch he had thrown in more than two years. But, despite how his yelling at Schneider might make it appear, Scherzer isn’t just some hothead rearing back and throwing gas. The real key to his success in Game 4 was his offspeed stuff.
Hitters had feasted on Scherzer’s curveball this season, batting .349 with a .674 slugging percentage against the pitch. In Game 4, Scherzer threw 10 curves. Only two were put into play (a flyout by Jorge Polanco and a groundout by Dominic Canzone), two were fouled off and the other six were swung at and missed. Scherzer also got three outs with his slider, which had been his best pitch in the regular season.
Scherzer couldn’t do it alone, of course. The main reason Schneider was able to stick with him as long as he did was that the Toronto offense, for the second straight game, had roughed up Seattle’s pitchers. The Jays were up 5–1 when that intense meeting on the mound occurred, enough of a cushion that Schneider could be persuaded (or intimidated) to leave Scherzer in the game. And for the second straight day, the unlikely engine behind Toronto’s offense was the No. 9 hitter, light-hitting middle infielder Andrés Giménez. After hitting seven homers in 369 plate appearances in the regular season, Giménez hit a two-run homer in Game 3 that tied the game 2–2 and another two-run shot in Game 4 that put the Jays up 2–1.
Game 4 may very well end up being the final appearance of Scherzer’s career. If it is, what a way for him to go out. Can his Hall of Fame plaque depict him with his eyes popping out of his head, yelling “NO!” at Schneider?
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Gilberto Manzano has more on Joe Flacco’s big game and what it means for the Bengals’ immediate future.
- The Steelers, meanwhile, still sit in first place in the AFC North, but Matt Verderame explains that the loss to Cincinnati exposed some glaring weaknesses.
- College football’s biggest coaching target is off the market after Indiana’s Curt Cignetti signed an extension to stay in Bloomington. Pat Forde breaks down the massive deal and the meteoric 22-month rise of the Hoosiers football program that led to it.
- Chris Mannix pulls back the curtain on the evolving player–ref dynamic, exploring where healthy debate ends and tech-worthy behavior begins.
- Sports Illustrated’s men’s college basketball preseason Top 25 countdown rolls on with No. 11, where a new star guard is expected to change the narrative in a hurry.
- Kevin Sweeney breaks down a loaded Big 12, where elite talent and rising contenders challenge the league’s reigning power — Houston.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. George Springer’s imitation of Max Scherzer yelling at John Schneider.
4. Two great saves in quick succession by Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz.
3. A really smart play by Bengals receiver Tee Higgins to slide after a great catch and give the Steelers no chance for a comeback.
2. Joe Flacco’s 12-yard run on a read option play.
1. A great play at third by Max Muncy to save a run.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | A Great Night for the Old Guys.
