Max Scherzer has had an impressive MLB career. He's made eight All-Star teams, earned three Cy Young awards in five seasons, led the league in wins four times, threw two no-hitters in the same season (in 2015, a season where he DIDN'T win the Cy Young), and won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019. But even after a decade in the half in the majors, Scherzer never had a season quite like this one.
For the first half of the year, Scherzer was languishing on the New York Mets. The Mets had won 101 games and seemed poised to make a championship run. Instead, the 2023 season went about as horribly as a season can go. The Mets ultimately finished 75-87, well out of the playoffs.
But before that happened, the Mets sent Scherzer to a new team. For the final three months of the year, he joined the Texas Rangers — which just won its first World Series in franchise history.
Scherzer earned his second championship ring in the process, but he did something even more spectacular: He got paid by three separate teams this year. Let's break it down with some math.
Sam Hodde/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the Mets at the end of 2021, covering the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons. When the Mets traded Scherzer to the Rangers, they had already paid $28.3 million of his 2023 salary. The Mets also offered $36 million towards Scherzer's salary over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The Rangers only owed $6.7 million this year, while the Mets covered the rest.
In 2024, Scherzer will make $43,333,334 million — as of right now, he'll technically be the highest-paid player by $1, beating out his former Mets teammate Justin Verlander. The Rangers will have to pay $16.5 million of that next season, and the Mets are on the hook for the remainder.
The fun finances don't end there. Scherzer will also make $15 million from the Washington Nationals this year. He signed a seven-year, $210 million contract in 2015; part of that deal includes deferred payments of $15 million every season from 2022 to 2028.
Add everything up, and Scherzer made $58.3 million this season: $36.6 million from the Mets ($338,889 for every inning pitched), $6.7 million from the Rangers ($121,818 for each inning pitched), and $15 million from the Nationals — a team he hasn't played for since 2021.
And next year, Scherzer will once again make money from three teams. Who knows? If the Rangers trade him, he could potentially be earning money from four teams — a whopping 12.5% of the league would be paying him. That might be even more impressive than everything he's accomplished on the field.
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