Blue Jays’ Max Scherzer to start Game 7 after Dodgers force winner-take-all in World Series

Max Scherzer is about to become the only living pitcher to start two winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series.

Baseball will have its ultimate finale on Saturday night when Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays play the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are trying to become the first team to win consecutive titles since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees won three in row.

Los Angeles had been expected to start Tyler Glasnow before he closed out a 3-1 victory in Game 6. The 6-foot-8 right-hander is likely still available, but manager Dave Roberts could also start Shohei Ohtani for two-to-four innings on three days’ rest — which the two-way star has not done since coming to Major League Baseball in 2018.

“They are all possibilities,” Roberts said. “This is Game 7, so there’s a lot of things that people haven’t done.

Scherzer also started Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, boosted by a cortisone injection for an irritated nerve near his neck. He didn’t have a clean inning and left after five, trailing by two runs before his Washington Nationals rallied to win 6-2 in Houston.

Only Bob Gibson (1964, ‘67, ’68) and Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ‘58) have started multiple winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series. Burleigh Grimes started Game 7 in 1920 and ’31, but his first was in a year the Series was best-of-nine.

Toronto gave Scherzer, 41, a $15.5-million, one-year contract. The three-time Cy Young Award winner picked his destination hoping to win a third World Series ring, after titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. The 18-year big league veteran has eagerly shared his experience with the Blue Jays.

Jays lose Game 6, World Series comes down to winner-take-all

“He’s not afraid to question baserunning, question