World Series: Rangers' Max Scherzer blames cut on thumb for ALCS woes

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Max Scherzer has an idea of why his two ALCS starts weren’t quite up to his ace-quality standards. After a month-long rehab for a shoulder muscle strain, Scherzer developed a cut near the nail of his thumb, which seemed to be healing up as he showed it to a reporter Thursday.

As for the cause, Scherzer couldn’t pin one down, but was optimistic about pitching in the World Series after posting a 9.45 ERA in the ALCS (9 hits, 7 runs, 6 2/3 innings).

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Scherzer said Thursday. “In that Game 3 start, for whatever reason, whether it’s a seam or my fingernail, I can’t tell. But it was cutting my thumb. I was actually dealing with it in Game 7 again, but I think we got a better way to be able to address it and get some protection around it.”

Scherzer mentioned “throwing some cotton in it, and some glue.” But the former Met didn’t say when his next start would be, and Texas manager Bruce Bochy hasn’t revealed his rotation beyond Game 1 starter Nathan Eovaldi.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.