If There Was A "Sports Contract Hall of Fame," There Would Be En Entire Wing Dedicated To Max Scherzer's 2015 Nationals Deferred Deal

Last night, Max Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young winner, took the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays, facing off against the Seattle Mariners in Game 4 of the ALCS. All was going smoothly through the fifth inning. The Jays were up 5–2, and Max had a 1–2 count on Randy Arozarena.

Of course, when you remember that Scherzer is 41 years old, hadn't won a postseason game in six years, and struggled through the end of the regular season, the "reasonable" move was to pull him. That's exactly what Blue Jays manager John Schneider planned to do as he climbed the dugout steps toward the mound. Unfortunately for Schneider, he barely made it onto the field before hearing a thunderous "NOOOOO!" SCREAMED from the mound. Followed by, "I'M GOOD! LET'S GO!"

It turned out to be one of the shortest mound visits in postseason baseball history as John Schneider quickly retreated to the dugout. As Schneider explained in the post-game press conference:

"I thought he was going to kill me. He locked eyes with me, both colors [Max has heterochromia iridis – two different eye colors (left brown, right blue)], as I walked out. And it's not fake. That's the thing. It's not fake. He has this 'Mad Max' persona, but he backed it up tonight."

Moments later, "Mad Max" struck out Arozarena with a sweeping curve to end the inning. The Jays went on to win 8–2 and move one step closer to punching their ticket to the World Series.

Max Scherzer was NOT coming out of this game

Facing his next hitter, he picks up the strikeout to end the 5th! pic.twitter.com/EbVoGMOno8

— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2025

Last night's showdown will live forever in Max Scherzer's highlight reel — the kind of moment they'll play during his inevitable Hall of Fame induction. But while most players dream of Cooperstown for what they do on the field, Scherzer also deserves enshrinement for what he pulled off at the negotiating table.

You know how we celebrate July 1st as "Bobby Bonilla Day," in honor of what's frequently called the greatest/luckiest/smartest contract in sports history? Yeah, well, Max Scherzer's 2015 Nationals deal makes Bobby Bonilla Day look like peanuts.

(Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

Mad Max's Mad 2015 Contract

As a reminder, here are the details of Bobby Bonilla's world-famous contract that spawned a national holiday: In 2000, the New York Mets agreed to defer the $5.9 million left on Bonilla's contract, instead paying him $1.19 million every July 1 from 2011 through 2035 — a total of about $29.8 million over 25 years.

Now let's talk about Max.

By the time Max Scherzer hit free agency after the 2014 season, he had already built the résumé of a generational ace. During his five seasons with the Detroit Tigers, he evolved from a hard-throwing prospect into one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. He won the 2013 American League Cy Young Award, led Detroit to multiple postseason appearances, and topped 240 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons. At 30 years old, Scherzer had the perfect combination of talent, health, and timing — and his agent, Scott Boras, knew it.

When the Washington Nationals came calling in January 2015, they didn't just want to sign an ace. They wanted to make a statement. Scherzer agreed to a seven-year, $210 million contract, instantly becoming one of the highest-paid pitchers in history. But what truly set the deal apart was its structure. Rather than taking all the money during his playing years, Scherzer and Boras crafted a groundbreaking deferral plan that would pay him for more than a decade.

Under the terms of Scherzer's Nationals deal, he earned $105 million during the seven-year playing portion of the contract. The remaining $105 million was deferred — spread out in seven annual installments of $15 million to be paid every July 1 from 2022 through 2028. In other words, even after he left Washington in 2021, the Nationals would keep sending him $15 million checks every summer for seven years.

Those payments coincide perfectly with Bobby Bonilla Day, but the scale is staggering. Bonilla's deal pays him a little over a million each July. Scherzer's pays fifteen times that. And unlike Bonilla, Scherzer isn't retired — he's still pitching, still winning playoff games, and still stacking one of the most brilliant pay structures in sports history. It actually gets even crazier…

Three Paychecks

Just because Max Scherzer is still collecting $15 million a year from the Washington Nationals doesn't mean he stopped signing new contracts.

After six and a half dominant seasons in Washington, Scherzer was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021. That winter, he hit free agency again and signed a record-breaking three-year, $130 million contract with the New York Mets. The deal came with a full no-trade clause, an opt-out after two seasons, and an average annual value of $43.3 million — the highest in MLB history at the time.

But when the Mets fell apart in 2023, they traded Scherzer to the Texas Rangers. Here's where it gets interesting: the Mets agreed to cover most of his salary to make the deal happen. That year, Scherzer earned $43.3 million in total — $36.6 million paid by the Mets, $6.7 million paid by the Rangers, and another $15 million from the Nationals in deferred money.

So in 2023, while Scherzer was throwing pitches for the Rangers, three different teams were wiring him checks — for a grand total of about $58 million in salary. No other player in baseball history has ever pulled that off.

In 2025, Scherzer is earning roughly $15.5 million in active salary from the Toronto Blue Jays, plus another $15 million from the Nationals. That's more than $30 million in annual income at age 41, years removed from his original contract.

Move Over, Bobby Bonilla

Every July 1, the sports world tips its hat to Bobby Bonilla — the man who gets $1.19 million for doing nothing. Cute.

Max Scherzer gets fifteen times that. He's still pitching. Still earning from multiple teams. Still staring down managers with two different colored eyes and yelling "I'M GOOD!" in the fifth inning of playoff games.

If Bobby Bonilla Day is baseball's unofficial holiday, maybe it's time to add another one to the calendar. July 1 isn't just about deferred dreams anymore — it's the day Max Scherzer reminds everyone that he's not just a Hall of Fame pitcher. He's a Hall of Fame negotiator.