White Sox vs. Rangers Thursday MLB probable pitchers, odds: Max Scherzer set at 6.5 strikeouts in Texas debut, first American League start in nine years

The last time three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer pitched for an American League team was Oct. 2, 2014, with the Detroit Tigers as he lost Game 1 of the AL Division Series in Baltimore. Scherzer returns to the Junior Circuit on Thursday afternoon for the first time since as he makes his Texas Rangers debut against the visiting Chicago White Sox in a series finale. The Rangers are -250 favorites on the SportsLine consensus as they try for the sweep.

Scherzer at first was inclined to stick it out with the disappointing Mets considering he's signed through next season, but once closer David Robertson was traded to Miami, Scherzer expressed his disappointment. He met with GM Billy Eppler, who allegedly told Scherzer "that the team is now kind of shifting vision and that they're looking to compete now for 2025 and 2026, and that 2024, that it was not going to be a reload situation in New York, and that it was going to be more of a transition in 2024."

Thus, Scherzer was open to moving on and waived his no-trade clause to be sent to Texas for top Rangers outfield prospect Luisangel Acuna, the 21-year-old younger brother of Braves superstar and NL MVP lock Ronald Acuna. The reason the Mets got such a touted young player for a trending-down 39-year-old Scherzer is because New York agreed to cover more than $35 million of the remaining terms of his contract through 2024.

Scherzer is a first-ballot Hall of Famer but having a down season by those standards as he's 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA (worst since 2011), has struck out 121, walked 30 and allowed a National League-high 23 home runs. Maybe being sent to a team in a pennant race changes things. It sure energized Scherzer in 2021 when he was shipped from Washington to the Los Angeles Dodgers around the Trade Deadline as Scherzer was 7-0 over 11 starts with a 1.98 ERA for LA.

The trade also reunites Scherzer with highly regarded Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, who was the Nationals' pitching coach in 2016 and 2017. In those two seasons with the Nats, Scherzer went 36-13 with a 2.75 ERA, led the NL in strikeouts and WHIP both years and won his second and third Cy Young Awards.

Scherzer is first among active pitchers with 3,314 strikeouts, one of 19 pitchers in MLB history to reach that total. He will be the fifth member of the 3000K Club to pitch for the Rangers, joining all-time leader Nolan Ryan (1989-93), Bert Blyleven (1976-77), Gaylord Perry (1975-77, 1980), and Fergie Jenkins (1974-75, 1978-81).

For Thursday via DraftKings, Scherzer is set at Over/Under 6.5 strikeouts with the Over a -175 favorite. He has struck out at least seven in seven of his past eight. To personally win, he's -115.

Today will also be Scherzer's first career outing at Globe Life Field (regular or postseason), which will be the 35th MLB venue at which he has appeared. He has pitched against the White Sox 24 times, his most common faced AL opponent, and is 13-6 with a 2.43 ERA but hasn't seem them since 2016. 

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