"I just enjoy competing too much" - Max Scherzer shuts down David Ortiz’s playful retirement jab with priceless comeback

Toronto Blue Jays' Max Scherzer delivered a stellar start to the team as they won 8-2 in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday. Scherzer pitched 5.2 innings, with two runs earned, three hits, four walks, and five strikeouts.

His selection as Toronto's starter came as a surprise after he had earned a 9.00 ERA in his last six starts for the club in the regular season. But in his 500th career start of his 18-year MLB career, regular and postseason combined, the three-time Cy Young winner showed his determination, battling with both physical and mental demons.

After the game, former Boston Red Sox rival and current analyst on Fox, David Ortiz, floated the idea of retirement in front of Max Scherzer on Fox's broadcast. The right-hander shot it down, stating he was going out on his own terms.

“I’m having too much fun. You get to go out and pitch in this environment, this is what you play the game for. It’s so much fun to be in these type of situations. So for me, I just enjoy competing too much,” Scherzer said, per FOX Sports: MLB.

Scherzer really did have his own way on the mound on Thursday as well. In the fifth inning, Blue Jays manager John Schneider walked up to him for a mound visit. He was sent back to the dugout by a charged-up veteran, who knew he had the game under control.

“I kind of went, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ like, ‘I’m not coming out of this ballgame,’” Scherzer said. “I feel too good. I wanted it.”

Scherzer did put everything behind his start, considering he pitched a 96.5 mph fastball in the first inning to Cal Raleigh, his highest velocity pitch in over two years. The eight-time All-Star also became the fourth player in the history of the MLB to win a game after turning 41.

John Schneider trusted Max Scherzer to deliver on the mound

Blue Jays manager John Schneider, in the postgame press conference, stated that his faith in Max Scherzer was beyond the statistics that told him otherwise. It was clearly pure baseball instinct.

“There’s numbers, there’s projections, there’s strategy, and then there’s people … I was trusting people,” Schneider said via MLB.

The win meant Toronto will have a chance to play in front of the Rogers Centre, set to host Games 6 and 7, once again this postseason. Before that, they face the Mariners for one final game in Seattle on Friday.