1 – Max Scherzer (80%)
By far and away the most likely to be the first in the Hall of Fame representing the Washington Nationals is Max Scherzer. Ever since coming over from the Detroit Tigers in free agency, he’s been nothing short of a revelation.
In his Nats career, he has a 68-32 record with a 2.71 ERA, 0.926 WHIP a well as striking out 1128 batters in 878.1 innings. That performance has seen him become an All-Star each season while taking home two NL Cy Young awards in 2016 and 2017.
We previously looked at Scherzer’s Cooperstown credentials and why he should already be considered a lock to make it in. One example is that the only other players who have won three Cy Young awards that aren’t in the Hall of Fame are Roger Clemens, who is still on the ballot after PED controversy, and Clayton Kershaw who like Scherzer is still active to this day.
Scherzer also has very similar stats to Sandy Koufax over the last six seasons, where Koufax was a no-doubter to make it to Cooperstown. The point of this comparison is that it shouldn’t matter whether Scherzer has a few more average seasons, his peak was so good that he should already be a lock.
However, there are some who don’t consider this to be the case just yet, hence why Scherzer doesn’t end up beong the only player on this list. The other question could be that maybe he goes in as a Tiger, but that would be quite the shocker for someone who really cemented his legacy here in D.C.