Max Scherzer didn't hesitate when asked about his favorite time in Toronto.

"Game 7 of the World Series. There's just nothing better than that. That's baseball's pinnacle," Scherzer said.

That's a striking answer from someone who's won two World Series titles and three Cy Young awards across a 19-year career spanning multiple organizations.

He went further, describing exactly what made the moment stick with him.

"So to have that ball in that situation, the way we played. That's just a lifelong memory. That's a baseball memory."

Why this answer says so much about his career priorities

For a pitcher with Scherzer's resume, ranking a single game above everything else in his career speaks to how rare and specific that particular experience actually was.

Game 7 of a World Series represents the absolute peak of the sport, a stage very few players ever get to occupy even once, let alone late in a Hall of Fame-caliber career.

His answer also fits with everything he's said this year about wanting his family present for what might be his final outings, treating each remaining start as something to genuinely savor rather than just another assignment.

That perspective makes sense given where Scherzer sits in his career, closing in on 42 years old and openly uncertain about whether he'll pitch again next season.

Toronto's Game 7 loss to the Dodgers last October still ended in heartbreak on the scoreboard. But Scherzer's answer suggests the experience itself, the stakes, the atmosphere, the moment, mattered more to him than the final result.

For a player who's seen nearly everything the sport has to offer, that's about as strong an endorsement of a single memory as it gets.