Rangers place Max Scherzer on 15-day IL in another blow to the defending champs

Texas Rangers veteran pitcher Max Scherzer has returned to the injured list.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Wednesday, due to right shoulder fatigue. This is Scherzer’s second time on the shelf this year. To start the season, he was on the injured list after having a surgical procedure for a herniated disc in his back during the offseason.

He didn’t make his first appearance until June 23 and has only started eight games with mixed results this season for a Rangers team struggling to defend its World Series title.

At age 40 and having pitched in 2,874 innings in his career, Father Time is seemingly on his heels with the recent injuries he’s sustaining.

Outside of the right shoulder fatigue that has been bothering him throughout the season, Scherzer has dealt with thumb soreness as well as nerve issues. And these injuries don’t bode well for a Rangers rotation that has caught the injury bug as of late.

Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray, and Tyler Mahle are all on the injured list as well for Texas. In terms of recovering, deGrom recently threw a 45-pitch bullpen as he is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Gray will miss the month of August with a groin injury. Mahle, also recovering from Tommy John surgery, is up to 74 pitches in his minor league recovery assignment and is the closest to returning out of the three.

Currently in the Rangers rotation is Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning and José Ureña. The team traded away starter Michael Lorenzen at the deadline, further thinning out the staff.

But with the squad at 52-27, 4 1/2 games back in the AL West and eight games out of a wild-card spot, they will have to hope that their future Hall of Fame pitcher can come back soon to help them in their late-season push.