Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

It seems that the New York Mets have avoided the ultimate Doomsday scenario with ace starter Max Scherzer. As he is still hopeful of making his next start despite leaving Saturday’s game against the Washington Nationals early.

On what was a frustrating day all round, as the offense stagnated in a tough 7-1 loss to the Nationals at Citi Field, the result took a backseat because of other more pressing events. Scherzer was forced to leave the game after just five innings and 67 pitches with left-side fatigue. This sparking fears of a repeat of the oblique strain that put him on the shelf from mid-May to early July. However, the veteran was quick to downplay his early exit as just a precautionary move when speaking to reporters in the clubhouse after the game.

“I just had general fatigue on the left side. It wasn’t anything specific and I don’t have any strains, the left side was just getting tired a lot quicker than usual,” Scherzer said.

“This was a precautionary move given the history of the oblique here. Was there a scenario where I could go out there and pitch a sixth and be okay? Yeah, that could have happened but if I went out there in the sixth and got hurt there’s no way I could come in here and look the guys in the face and say I made the right decision. Better to be safe than sorry in this scenario. I’ve got an extra day coming in after this, just rest up and get ready for the next start.”

Given that Scherzer has already missed significant time this year, taking the safe road has to be applauded. It’s also a sign of the future Hall of Famer’s maturity and vast experience that he knows his own body well enough to know when to step off the gas and take it easy. That came on both sides too as Mets manager Buck Showalter stressed the need to understand the big picture in situations like these.

“He didn’t ask to come out,” Showalter said. “We didn’t think it was a good idea to push it, and we’re hopeful he can make his next start. Max is very good about understanding the big picture. He’s as good as it gets. That’s why he’s done the things he’s done as far as knowing himself. He didn’t need to come out of the game. He’s very frank about what he was feeling, and we reacted to what a really good pitcher that knows himself said.”

There is no doubt that Scherzer could have battled through the fatigue given that he was just reaching his stride against the Nationals. After struggling early, by giving up a home run to Luis García in the first inning, and then putting two runners on base in the third, the 38-year-old took care of business the rest of the way.

He retired seven straight and needing just 10 pitches to retire the side in the fifth. He had his fastball really going with a 21% whiff rate while averaging 94.5 mph with the pitch.

However, Scherzer has been here before in terms of trying to push through something. With the regular season now at a critical point, the ace didn’t want to risk taking himself out of the picture again and not being available to the Mets who are in the midst of an incredibly competitive pennant race. And they will need the second part of their two-headed pitching monster to be healthy and available as much as possible down the stretch.

“It was different. This wasn’t just the oblique, it was a whole kind of area,” Scherzer said. “You just couldn’t take any risks, especially with where the calendar is at. There’s no time left to ramp back up, so that played just as much as an important factor in coming out after five. The feeling I had, just general fatigue everywhere on the left side, I just had to play it smart. It was too much risk, and even a little bit of risk was too much risk. Even though I felt good enough to probably go out for the sixth, it just wasn’t smart.”

Scherzer has come exactly as advertised for the Mets this season. He has pitched to a 2.10 ERA with 89 strikeouts over his past 11 starts, averaging 6 2/3 innings and 98 pitches. The three-time Cy Young Award winner also led the majors in innings pitched (40.2) with a 2.66 ERA in August. He ranked third in strikeouts with 44 in that span too.

Scherzer is pitching to a stellar 2.26 ERA on the year with a 9-4 record, to go along with 153 strikeouts in 127.2 innings pitched. You can’t afford to lose an elite ace like that for any amount of time.

“I would expect to make my next start,” Scherzer said. “Especially given that I have an extra day. I didn’t hurt myself. I’ll just get some days off and I should be feeling good pretty soon. There’s nothing that happened. I didn’t throw a weird pitch, I didn’t have anything go, nothing tightened up, I just had general fatigue overall on my left side. That’s where you can run into an injury is when you are pitching through fatigue, so that was the reason to come out.”

Playing it careful and overreacting is sometimes the best way to go, and that proved to be the case for the New York Mets on Saturday. After all, with deGrom and Scherzer both healthy and fully at the peak of their powers, they have a real opportunity to win a first World Series since 1986. The fact that the Mets have seemingly avoided the nightmare situation with Scherzer means that goal remains a real possibility.