The Toronto Maple Leafs seem to be the opposite of the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays so far this season. Where the Leafs are underperforming their high expectations, the Jays well exceeded their relatively low projections. Where the Leafs just don’t seem to be gelling as a team, the Jays were an all-time example of clubhouse camaraderie.

On Wednesday, Max Scherzer stopped by Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill to discuss the Blue Jays’ historic run to the World Series and all things Toronto sports. Reflecting on the Jays’ season, he shared that the closeness of the roster was a huge factor in their success.

“Getting in that clubhouse and getting with everybody, it was the right group of guys,” Scherzer said. “Right fit, right personalities. Veterans, rookies, you name it. Everything just worked, everything clicked, everything fit. So it made for an incredible baseball experience.”

While it was a historic campaign in many ways, the Jays ultimately fell short, losing the World Series in extra innings of Game 7. Questions now circle about who may return with the team next season. Currently a free agent, Scherzer admitted there’s some unfinished business for him and his teammates in Toronto.

“It definitely feels like that,” he said. “I want everybody in that same exact situation playing the exact same ball. It’s kind of weird to have that happen, where you have such a gut-wrenching loss, and yet you have the whole team saying no, we don’t have a problem, we want to go back out there. We’re actually proud of the way we played. Kind of we have the thought that the baseball gods got it wrong. We did everything right in a lot of different ways. So yeah, that notion that there’s some unfinished business. We know we’re a championship caliber team, and we wanna do that.”

As Alberga points out here, Scherzer sure did say we and our a lot in his answer, clearly indicating he’s hungry for another shot at winning in Toronto. Of course, there’s a lot of other factors that will go into his and his teammates’ future plans, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Scherzer did take time to address the feeling of coming so close only to fall short. Just as the Leafs lost to the Panthers in Game 7 last year, and have suffered in many other do-or-die contests–Scherzer shared it’s a difficult thing to bounce back from.

“It’s a gut punch, an absolute gut punch, when you have your season ended in any form or fashion, but especially when you get deep in the playoffs,” he said. “It definitely changes how you look at the game in the offseason, what you want to do, how you want to train, all your preparation, changes how you think going forward. You learn so much from those moments, from those losses, and how you want to handle it differently. Everyone processes it differently, but for me, you reflect upon, what would you do different? Is there anything you didn’t prepare for? That’s what drives you nuts at night, thinking about what changes would you have actually done. Or are you just proud of everything you did, and there’s times where that happens too.”

Listen to Alberga and Jay Rosehill’s full interview with Max Scherzer here, and tune into Leafs Morning Take weekdays at 11am!