Sportswriters are heaping on the hype about Detroit's right-handed phenom, who Friday night eclipsed a 27-year-old record set by Roger Clements by earning his 12th straight win on the mound since starting this season.
Max Scherzer's historic performance in a 6-3 win against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field unleashes a fresh gusher of platitudes and early predictions about what could be ahead.
Here's a sampling of the fulsome flow:
Tom Gage, The Detroit News: It was Scherzer’s night to shine again, though — his night in a month and a season which appear to be his as well. . . . Scherzer has done what no other Detroit pitcher has ever accomplished.
Hal Bodley, MLB.com: Scherzer is the best pitcher in the Major Leagues right now. He'll probably start the All-Star Game at New York's Citi Field on July 16, and unless he falls apart, he should win the American League Cy Young Award.
A running forecast from the sports data nerds at ESPN.
Matt Meyers, ESPN: It’s another fun summer to be a baseball fan in Motown. I just hope Tigers fans are cherishing these last few summers of Miggy, Justin Verlander and now Scherzer, because these kinds of performances don’t come around all that often.
Zachary D. Rymer, Bleacher Report: It's not every day you see a pitcher start a season with a record like that. Or every quarter-century, for that matter. . . . Scherzer's in a pretty exclusive club.
Al Beaton, Bless You Boys blog: Reaching 12-0 wasn't his only MLB milestone. In striking out nine, Scherzer is the only pitcher in MLB history to go unbeaten in his first sixteen starts with at least 120 strikeouts. His streak of consecutive six-plus strikeout games reached 16 games as well.
Janet Z, tweeting from northwest Ohio: #Scherzer hypnotizes the opposing team's batters with his awesome eyes.
Anthony Castrovince, MLB.com: At the age of 28, Scherzer has asserted himself as one of the game's best and brightest, stepping out from Verlander's shadow . . . Scherzer is in prime position for the AL honor [as All-Star game starter].
