PHOENIX — Max Scherzer on Monday is scheduled to fulfill his spring training prophecy of pitching in the World Series this year.
But the uniform he will be wearing is not what he envisioned.
“It’s different today,” the former Mets pitcher told The Post on Sunday.
Scherzer will get the ball for the Rangers in Game 3 of the World Series against the Diamondbacks.
He is three months removed from the trade that sent him to Texas for prospect Luisangel Acuna and about to pitch for a third different team in the World Series.
But don’t suggest to the three-time Cy Young award winner that he has to be happy he chose to waive his no-trade clause with the Mets.
“It was just a decision that had to be made,” Scherzer said. “I don’t want to say ‘happy’ because that makes it seem like I was trying to get out of New York. I was just at the point in my career where I had to make a decision about winning. If winning is your North Star, you can make decisions around that. The decision got made.”
It came after Scherzer, who had a player option for next season — he agreed to exercise it upon his trade to the Rangers — says he failed to receive assurances from Mets brass that the team was all-in on winning in 2024.
Does Scherzer think the Mets will be competitive next season?
“I got put in a box to make the choice, I had to make a decision,” Scherzer said. “If they do [compete], great — I have no animosity toward the organization or anybody there. It’s just I got put in a corner where if I don’t accept this trade then we are going to be trading other guys across the roster. ‘If you are not going to let us trade you then we are going to move other people.’ At that point I had to make a baseball decision.”
Scherzer went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts for the Rangers before he was placed on the injured list with strained teres major muscle in his shoulder.
He returned for the ALCS and had two abbreviated starts against the Astros in which he pitched to a 9.45 ERA.
Now he faces the challenge of a lineup that handled Jordan Montgomery and the Rangers’ bullpen in the Diamondbacks’ 9-1 victory in Game 2 on Saturday that evened the series.
Scherzer’s previous World Series starts came with the Tigers (2012) and Nationals (2019).
“This is what you dream of when you’re a kid,” Scherzer said. “When you’re a kid, you dream of hitting in the World Series, pitching in the World Series. You watched your idols do this in all the big games, and to be able to live out your dreams. … This is crazy to say it’s my third World Series, but here I have another opportunity to live out my dream.”
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