It’s fair to call Max Scherzer a winning player. Besides his 221 regular-season victories, he has finished just three of his 18 MLB seasons on a team with a sub-.500 record. He has also reached the playoffs with six of those seven franchises, including the Blue Jays this year.
The two-time World Series champion is now looking to collect his third ring as Toronto begins its postseason on Saturday in the American League Division Series. If Scherzer gets into a game this month, he will become a member of a very small group of well-traveled players with an enormous amount of playoff experience.
The Blue Jays would be the sixth team that Scherzer has played for in October along with the Tigers (2011-14), Nationals (2014, 2016-17, 2019), Dodgers (2021), Mets (2022) and Rangers (2023). Only four other players in MLB history have appeared in the postseason with that many clubs.
Here’s a look at that short list as well as the collection of players who have played in the playoffs for five franchises. Red Sox reliever Aroldis Chapman joined that group when he closed out Boston’s victory in Game 1 of its American League Wild Card Series against the Yankees.
Josh Donaldson, six teams
A’s (2012-14), Blue Jays (2015-16), Cleveland (2018), Braves (2019), Yankees (2022), Brewers (2023)
The 2015 AL MVP collected three homers and six extra-base hits in 11 playoff games for Toronto that season. Donaldson was even better the following year, slashing .417/.462/.667 with seven XBHs through nine games. Alas, the Blue Jays’ World Series hopes were thwarted in the League Championship Series by Kansas City and Cleveland, respectively. Donaldson, who never reached the Fall Classic, couldn’t replicate that level of production with any of the other clubs he played for in the postseason. Outside of those two trips with Toronto, he batted .193 (21-for-109) with one homer and 38 strikeouts in the playoffs.
Fernando Rodney, six teams
Tigers (2006), Rays (2013), Cubs (2015), D-backs (2017), A’s (2018), Nationals (2019)
Rodney’s postseason résumé is pretty spotty: 5.71 ERA, 5.46 FIP and a 2.02 WHIP over 17 1/3 innings (20 games). He also went 0-for-2 in save opportunities after racking up 327 saves during the regular season. But he did get the final out in two win-or-go-home games, first for the Rays in their 2013 American League Wild Card Game at Cleveland and then for the D-backs in their 2017 National League Wild Card Game versus Colorado. Two years later — Rodney’s final one in MLB — he was merely a low-leverage reliever during the playoffs for the Nationals, but he was able to retire as a World Series champion.
David Wells, six teams
Blue Jays (1989, 1991-92), Reds (1995), Orioles (1996), Yankees (1997-98, 2002-03), Red Sox (2005), Phillies (2006)
Wells’ ERA was nearly a full run better in the playoffs (3.17) than it was during the regular season (4.13). Granted, some of that can be credited to when he was in the Blue Jays’ bullpen in 1989, ’91 and in their ’92 World Series title year. He allowed only two earned runs across 13 October innings over those three seasons. But once Wells was a part of a playoff rotation, first with the ’95 Reds, he was often reliable as a starter, too. The left-hander allowed one unearned run and struck out eight batters over 6 1/3 innings in his first postseason start as Cincinnati triumphed in Game 3 of the 1995 NLDS against the Dodgers.
His greatest playoff successes came with the Yankees, especially during their dominant run in 1998. Wells finished third in the AL Cy Young voting that season and was then named ALCS MVP after tossing 15 2/3 innings through two starts and striking out 18 Cleveland batters. His 11 K’s in Game 5 were his personal best in the postseason.
Kenny Lofton, six teams
Cleveland (1995-96, 1998-99, 2001, 2007), Braves (1997), Giants (2002), Cubs (2003), Yankees (2004), Dodgers (2006)
Lofton was playoff-bound in all but two years from 1995-2007. A prolific speedster, his 34 stolen bases in the playoffs are the most by any player, and his 11 bags for Cleveland in 1995 matched Rickey Henderson’s total for the 1989 A’s as the most in a single postseason. In Game 6 of the ’95 ALCS, Lofton’s speed put the finishing touches on Cleveland’s first pennant since 1954 as he scored from second base on a passed ball in the eighth inning against Randy Johnson and the Mariners. But his most impactful postseason moment arguably came with the Giants seven years later. That’s when Lofton lined a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth of NLCS Game 5 to send San Francisco to the World Series.
Players who made the postseason with five teams
• Don Baylor (Orioles, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, A’s)
• Carlos Beltrán (Astros, Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Rangers)
• Bobby Bonilla (Braves, Orioles, Marlins, Mets, Pirates)
• Chad Bradford (Red Sox, White Sox, Mets, A’s, Rays)
• Ellis Burks (Red Sox, White Sox, Cleveland, Rockies, Giants)
• Orlando Cabrera (Red Sox, White Sox, Reds, Angels, Twins)
• Aroldis Chapman (Red Sox, Cubs, Reds, Yankees, Rangers)
• Octavio Dotel (White Sox, Tigers, Astros, Mets, Cardinals)
• Alan Embree (Braves, Red Sox, Cleveland, Padres, Giants)
• Curtis Granderson (Tigers, Dodgers, Brewers, Mets, Yankees)
• Rickey Henderson (Mets, A’s, Padres, Mariners, Blue Jays)
• Jason Heyward (Braves, Cubs, Astros, Dodgers, Cardinals)
• Danny Jackson (Reds, Royals, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals)
• Craig Kimbrel (Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Phillies)
• J.D. Martinez (D-backs, Red Sox, Tigers, Dodgers, Mets)
• Pat Neshek (Rockies, Astros, Twins, A’s, Cardinals)
• John Olerud (Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, Mariners, Blue Jays)
• Tommy Pham (D-backs, Royals, Padres, Cardinals, Rays)
• Reggie Sanders (D-backs, Braves, Reds, Giants, Cardinals)
• Max Scherzer (Tigers, Dodgers, Mets, Rangers, Nationals)
• Jim Thome (Orioles, White Sox, Cleveland, Dodgers, Twins)
