Max Scherzer

That's been kinda my secret. You use everything off the field to help make you better on the field.

I'm not trying to throw six or seven pitches just to be able to strike you out. I'm trying to do it in three or four. It's the homework and the process between starts that I really focus on to help me do that.

I'm looking to generate strikeouts in every way I can.

Strikeouts are part of my game.

I beat the odds, and I beat the odds so many times.

If I got hurt or anything, I was going to need a college degree. Nothing was going to stop me from getting that.

I really wanted to go to college.

You have to find a way to improve yourself.

You have to look back on everything that you've done and critique yourself and find the holes in your game that you can continue to get better.

You've got to get better every single year, it doesn't matter.

For me, I really enjoy helping out the Youth Baseball Academy. That's something that any time you're helping out the game of baseball with at risk children, that puts a smile on my face.

Look, the umpires behind the plate? They're human. They're doing the best they can to try to call balls and strikes. I understand that there's a lot of calls that kinda are 50-50. They can go either way. And as a starting pitcher, you try to manage, 'Alright, if you didn't get that call, maybe you'll get it again here a few innings later.'

I understand why there is a push for an automated strike zone. However, I do think there would be some unintended consequences of having it that I think need to be addressed first before we would go down that road.

For me, it's all about winning.

I take a great deal of pride in pitching deep into ballgames.

I grew up with dogs. My wife really loves dogs.

I need to eat a large meal before I play, and the one thing that was kind of consistent in every single clubhouse at least in the minors was a roast beef sandwich. So that kind of stuck there, and it just kind of stuck in the big leagues as well.

Perfectionist is sometimes the wrong word... It means like you're never satisfied, or you're upset by every single failure - any type of failure. And so for me, I don't look at failure as necessarily a bad thing as long as I'm able to learn from it and take something from it, so that next time I'm in that situation I know how to succeed.

When you allow stolen bases, that changes the game.

I don't worry about infield shifts at all - you play where you're gonna play. I'm just gonna pitch my game.

I understand what sabermetrics get across, and what they're getting across is to keep it simple. Especially for me, as a pitcher, that's something that helps me - finding ways to keep it simple. Numbers can only tell so much.

My slider's been very, very good to me.

I'm not trying to strike them out, but there are certain situations, when it's an 0-2 count or a 1-2 count, when I want to have a pitch where I want to strike you out.

Sometimes I have to try to remind myself that I don't try to strike out hitters.

Sometimes you have to throw 120 pitches to figure yourself out.

I know when I get to 0-2, 1-2, when I'm ahead in the count, that I hold a distinct advantage over every single hitter. I have so many options because I don't have to work within the strike zone anymore.

When you look at starting pitchers, once they make it through year four, then - knock on wood - you see a lot of injury risk go down.

The advanced stats are great to look at for my long-term goals and what I'm trying to accomplish. It shows me there is an inherent failure in pitching. The luck involved, the factors you can't control. You just have to let go of those and focus on the next batter, the next game.

There's more to pitching than just striking guys out, but also it is a big reason why you can have success.

All of the off-field stuff, I can promise you, it doesn't even register with me.

You worry about how you're throwing the ball, how you're executing your pitches.

I'm not worried about good numbers or bad numbers. You worry about the process.

You want to create the fans that are following the team year in, year out.

If you're constantly just trying to go in this win-loss cycle that MLB is pushing, you are creating bandwagon fans, and that's not the type of fans you want to create.

When there's too many teams that are not trying to win, that poisons the game, poisons the fan experience, and it creates bandwagon fans.

Any type of discomfort is going to alter the way I throw the ball. If I alter the way I throw the ball, I run the risk of major injury to my arm.

If you look at it long-term, I think eventually there will be a DH in the National League.

Who would people rather see, a real hitter hitting home runs or a pitcher swinging a wet newspaper?

I've had a better 2017 than I've had 2016, just like a better '16 than '15 and '14.

I'm trying to make sure that I get to my 0-2, 1-2 counts. That's really how I would rather phrase it: I'm trying to make sure that I can drive the count into my favor.

There's so much information now, and that even goes down to the college game. You have so much video, you can watch every YouTube video of guys and mechanics, and so I just feel like the younger generation's more educated than ever before.

I never want the ball above my shoulders until I'm really firing. I feel like I can generate more velocity with my arm path. The way my arm works, there's so many benefits to it - from a health standpoint, as well.

You're just trying to go out there and give seven innings. Seven innings, 105 pitches, that's a good outing.

You can't get too caught up in trying to pitch a complete game, because that's hard to do.

When I can buy strikes with that curveball, that just lets everything else play up.

I've seen so many of my friends get cut and released and all taken advantage of because at the end of the day, we say it's the business part of the game.

The business part of the game is ugly.

I've said it, I'll keep saying it, I want to be in Detroit. I've really enjoyed my time here. I really enjoy the clubhouse and everyone that's involved.

For me, I'm not going to be hitting the ball out of the ballpark. I know that.

I've got a high-school swing. I know that. But you know what? It's good enough to get a ball in play.