Despite nagging ailments, Scherzer had another dominant year

As we transition into offseason mode here, we're reviewing each significant player on the Nationals roster. We continue today with Max Scherzer, who despite some minor injuries along the way pitched well enough to make a case for his second straight Cy Young Award.

PLAYER REVIEW: MAX SCHERZER

Age on opening day 2018: 33

How acquired: Signed as free agent, January 2015

MLB service time: 9 years, 79 days

2017 salary: $15 million

Contract status: Signed for $15 million in 2018, $35 million in 2019-21. Receives $15 million annual signing bonus in 2019-21. Salaries in 2019-21 are deferred, with Nationals paying $15 million annually from 2022-28.

2017 stats: 16-6, 2.51 ERA, 31 GS, 2 CG, 200 2/3 IP, 126 H, 62 R, 56 ER, 22 HR, 55 BB, 268 SO, 11 HBP, 0.902 WHIP, 6.0 WAR

Quotable: "I don't know if I've seen a guy compete as hard as he competes day in and day out. ... The fire, the intensity, the role model he can be for kids coming up to kind of take the bull by the horns and just compete, it's fun." - Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale on Scherzer

2017 analysis: Is it possible to win a Cy Young Award one season and actually pitch better the next season? Scherzer certainly tried to make that case in 2017, even if he did suffer some notable bumps along the way.

The right-hander enjoyed a brilliant first half, at one point boasting a 1.94 ERA, 0.771 WHIP, .503 opponents' OPS and 163-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio. All of that earned Scherzer the assignment as the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game.

The second half included more stretches of dominance, but it also included an odd string of freak injuries. Scherzer departed his Aug. 1 start in Miami in the second inning with a stiff neck, then was a late scratch from a scheduled start later that month in San Diego when the ailment returned. He was struck in the calf by a line drive Sept. 2 in Milwaukee and hobbled his way through five innings, then tweaked his right hamstring Sept. 30 against the Pirates in his final outing of the regular season.

That last ailment proved the most significant of them all, because it prevented Scherzer from starting in the postseason until Game 3 of the National League Division Series. He was brilliant that afternoon at Wrigley Field, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but that was the only start he could make against the Cubs. And when manager Dusty Baker tried to use him out of the bullpen in Game 5, the results were disastrous: Scherzer allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch during the top of the fifth, turning a 4-3 lead for the Nats into a 7-4 deficit en route to an agonizing loss.

2018 outlook: That last image of Scherzer for 2017, unable to hold a three-run lead in a decisive playoff game, will haunt the right-hander all winter. He still seemed like he was in a state of disbelief after the game, shell-shocked both by his individual performance and the Nationals' overall showing.

Knowing Scherzer, though, he'll only be more motivated next season to erase that negative memory and write a new chapter in his career. He may report to spring training as the league's back-to-back Cy Young Award winner, a three-time winner overall. And he'll be approaching the midway point of a seven-year contract with the Nationals that has been an unquestioned success to date but still features some potential potholes along the way.

Scherzer turns 34 next summer, and though he has avoided any kind of significant arm injury, the strange run of nagging ailments late this season do serve as a reminder that it's only going to get harder to keep himself in shape over the second half of his contract with the Nats.

If Scherzer can maintain good health, there's every reason to believe he can continue to pitch as well as anybody in the league. He possesses the rare gift of an electric arm with the brains to understand how best to use it. Nobody game plans more for a start, nobody is as in tune with how he's feeling during the course of a start than this guy.

In three seasons in D.C., Scherzer is 50-25 with a 2.76 ERA and 0.931 WHIP, having struck out 11.3 batters per nine innings. He's been everything the Nationals could have hoped he'd be, and he's not about to stop being that guy.