There isn't much in baseball, or life, that is guaranteed, but there is one thing: Max Scherzer will be voted into the Hall of Fame. That was already secured going into his start Wednesday night for the Toronto Blue Jays, but he is continuing to build on his resume. Now, Scherzer had a lengthy stint on the injured list, so it has been a long time coming for him to cross this one off of his bucket list, as he needed one strikeout to become the 11th pitcher in history to record 3,500 throughout a career. It wasn't an outing that anybody was hoping for, and better to skip past the final stat line altogether, but overlooking what he has done since stepping into the majors 19 years ago would be a mistake, as the game has changed significantly over the years, and he could be the last one to achieve this. Career Strikeout Leaderboard Blue Jays starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) pitches to the Minnesota Twins during the second inning at Rogers Centre. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn ImagesWhile Scherzer likely won't crawl into the top-five by any means, he should easily finish inside the top-10 by the time he decides to retire. As impressive as it is that he has thrown more than 3,500 strikeouts since stepping into the majors, it is the pace at which he has done so; look at his number of innings pitched compared to the rest. Nolan Ryan-5,714: 5,386 InningsRandy Johnson- 4,875: 4,135.1 inningsRoger Clemens- 4,672: 4,916.2 inningsSteve Carlton- 4,136: 5,217.2 inningsBert Blyleven- 3,701: 4,970 inningsTom Seaver- 3,601: 4,783 inningsDon Sutton- 3,574: 5,282.1 inningsJustin Verlander- 3,554: 3,571.1 inningsGaylord Perry- 3,534: 5,350 inningsWalter Johnson- 3,509: 5,914.1 inningsMax Scherzer- 3,503: 2,985 innings— MLB (@MLB) June 10, 2026The immediate two pitchers ahead of Scherzer on this list have all pitched in more than 2,000 innings than Scherzer has, and while he is still active and the others are not, that is clearly not a mark that Scherzer will catch. Looking back to when this all first started for Scherzer on April 29 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, it is hard not to get somewhat emotional as he began his career promising, and took off from there. He spent just over four innings on the mound without giving up a hit while retiring seven. As he turns 42 years old in July, it seems likely that this could be the final of his run, but he would retire as a 2x World Champion, 3x Cy Young Award winner, and an 8x All-Star. That is a man who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow