Texas Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer will miss the rest of the regular season with a teres major strain, an injury to a muscle connecting the arm to the shoulder blade, GM Chris Young announced Wednesday (per the Dallas Morning News). Scherzer exited Tuesday night's game against the Toronto Blue Jays -- an eventual 6-3 Texas win -- with the injury. Young confirmed Scherzer does not require surgery, though he said it is "unlikely" Scherzer will pitch in the postseason.
The Rangers initially called Scherzer's injury a triceps strain, and testing Wednesday revealed the full extent of the injury. Justin Verlander, Scherzer's teammate with the Mets earlier this year, missed the start of the season with the same injury.
Scherzer tried to throw some warmup pitches after consulting with Rangers personnel on the mound Tuesday, but he started and stopped twice without actually throwing the ball. Here is Scherzer leaving the game:
Scherzer had thrown 5 1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday night before his early exit. He has a 3.77 ERA and 1.12 WHIP this season. The Rangers traded for Scherzer a few days before the trade deadline and he looked like a nice replacement for Jacob deGrom, who had to undergo Tommy John surgery. All-Start Nathan Eovaldi just recently worked back from an injury and hasn't fully been stretched out yet, having thrown 47 pitches in 2 1/3 innings last time out.
Other than Scherzer and Eovaldi, the rest of the Rangers' rotation is comprised of Jordan Montgomery, Jon Gray and Dane Dunning. Both Andrew Heaney and Martín Pérez were in the rotation earlier this season and have been bumped. Either could move into the rotation to replace Scherzer. The larger concern is the lack of an established ace in the middle of a postseason race.
As part of the trade that sent Scherzer to Texas, he agreed to waive his opt out this offseason, and is under contract for $43.3 million next season. The Rangers are paying $22.5 million of that $43.3 million. The Mets are on the hook for the rest.
The Rangers enter Wednesday one game out in the AL West and a half-game ahead of the Mariners and Blue Jays for the third and final AL wild-card spot.