Through his first eight games as a Washington National, Max Scherzer is off to the best start of his career by several measures.
His ERA is a pristine 1.75, good for fourth in the National League. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 8.25, over double his career average of 3.49. He’s tied for third in the majors with 66 strikeouts and leads the league in FIP (2.02).
He’s even more efficient than ever with an average of 13.9 pitches per inning, down from over 16.5 the year before. That’s allowing him to last longer in each of his outings, as the right-hander has pitched at least seven innings in seven of his eight total starts.