Max Scherzer Becoming the Summer's Must-Watch Event

Admit it: Somewhere around the fifth inning of Max Scherzer's start Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies, you were expecting history. Not just hoping for it or believing it was possible. You assumed it would happen.

"It," of course, being a second consecutive no-hitter. If Scherzer had managed the feat—and he teased us, not allowing a baserunner in this 5-2 road win until Freddy Galvis doubled with one out in the sixth—he'd have become just the second big league pitcher to do so. The other, Johnny Vander Meer, did it in 1938.

For now, Vander Meer remains alone in his exclusive club. But the mere fact that Scherzer came so close, and had basically everyone convinced he could do it,…