In a demoralizing season for pitcher health, two Cy Young Award winners finally returned to the mound this past week.
Gerrit Cole pitched four-plus innings Wednesday for the New York Yankees and Max Scherzer worked five scoreless frames Sunday for the Texas Rangers. Each right-hander was making his season debut.
Cole and Scherzer are two of the lucky ones — in that they were actually able to come back this season. Shane McClanahan, Sandy Alcantara, Félix Bautista and Shohei Ohtani haven’t pitched at all in 2024 and aren’t expected to. Spencer Strider and Shane Bieber pitched a bit but are now out for the rest of the year. And they’re hardly the only ones.
So it was a boost for the Yankees and Rangers when their two stars returned from their injuries. Cole and Scherzer joined teams in significantly different spots. New York leads the AL East even after losing two of three to both Baltimore and Atlanta. Texas, meanwhile, is three games under .500 and could certainly use any help the 39-year-old Scherzer can provide.
The Yankees have the best ERA in the American League, which shows how well their rotation has pitched even in Cole’s absence, but he may be back at just the right time. The day after Cole made his season debut, Luis Gil — who has been mostly brilliant this year — was knocked out in the second inning of a 17-5 loss. Later in the week, New York had to put slugger Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list with a hamstring issue. So Cole’s ability to pitch after missing time with elbow problems could be crucial in the weeks to come.
Of course, with pitchers these days, any optimism should be cautious. Scherzer was sidelined late last season with shoulder problems, and he had back surgery in the offseason. The three-time Cy Young Award winner allowed just one hit in his outing against Kansas City over the weekend.