Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer was left off the Toronto Blue Jays' roster for their AL Division Series against the New York Yankees along with injured shortstop Bo Bichette and right-hander Chris Bassitt.
Scherzer was 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA in his last six starts, including a Sept. 7 loss to the Yankees as New York took advantage of the 41-year-old right-hander tipping pitches with his changeup.
An eight-time All-Star, Scherzer was 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in 17 starts after agreeing to a $15.5 million, one-year contract. He didn't pitch between March 29 and June 25 because of right thumb inflammation.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said it was tough to break the news to Scherzer and Bassitt.
“The conversations were hard, but they definitely understood,” Schneider said. “They’re going to do everything they need to do to stay ready for the next round. We’re past the point of hurt feelings.”
Scherzer has a 221-117 record with a 3.22 ERA, winning World Series titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. Scherzer is 7-8 with a 3.78 ERA in 30 postseason games.
Schneider didn't address Scherzer's pitch-tipping issue but said the Yankees weren't a good matchup for the veteran righty.
“Just the way that they’re constructed, the way that we are planning to go after them with starters and relievers, there wasn’t a great lane for him against this team, which sounds kind of weird being that it’s Max Scherzer.
“Probably would have been a different outcome if it was Boston, to be honest with you," Schneider said.
Bichette, second in the major leagues to the Yankees' Aaron Judge with a .311 batting average, hasn’t played since Sept. 6, when he sprained his left knee in a collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells. Bassitt, who was 11-9 and led the Blue Jays in wins, hasn't pitched since Sept. 18 because of lower back inflammation.
Schneider said Bichette still hasn't been able to test himself by running or hitting against regular pitching.
“He’s continuing to make progress,” Schneider said. "He’s going to continue to do everything he can to get ready if we do advance."
Blue Jays outfielder George Springer said he felt bad for Bichette having to miss out.
“Without Bo we probably wouldn’t be in this position,” Springer said. “To know that he’s hurting on the inside, he wants to play just as bad as everybody here wants him to play, is tough.”
Toronto included 13 pitchers but only Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage, a 22-year-old right-hander who debuted Sept. 15, finished the season in the rotation. Toronto chose four left-handers against lefty-heavy New York: Justin Bruihl, Mason Fluharty, Eric Lauer and Brendon Little.
New York added right-hander Luis Gil, who was set to start Saturday's opener and dropped right-handed relief Mark Leiter Jr., who was active for the Wild Card Series against Boston but didn't pitch.
The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers added three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and left-hander Anthony Banda to the roster for their NL Division Series against Philadelphia while dropping right-hander Edgardo Henriquez.
Kershaw, a 37-year-old, is slated to pitch in relief. The 11-time All-Star says he will retire after the postseason.
Infielder Otto Kemp and outfielder Weston Wilson were on the Phillies' roster and right-handers Jordan Romano and Lou Trivino were left off.
Right-hander Ben Brown was added to the Chicago Cubs' roster against the Milwaukee Brewers and left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers was dropped. Rogers pitched a hitless inning in the Wild Card Series against San Diego.
Milwaukee included hard-throwing rookie right-hander Jacob Misiorowski and left-hander Robert Gasser while leaving off first baseman Rhys Hoskins.
The Seattle Mariners will be without ace right-hander Bryan Woo for their AL Division Series against the Detroit Tigers. Woo, 25, has missed the last two weeks with pectoral inflammation. He was a first-time All-Star this season, going 15-7 with a 2.94 ERA and 198 strikeouts across 186 ⅔ innings.
Manager Dan Wilson is optimistic that Woo will be available for the AL Championship Series if it comes to that.
“He’s continuing to progress as we had hoped, and we talked about that up until this point it’s gone pretty smoothly. No setbacks,” Wilson said. “I think as long as that continues, I think we’ll probably be in good shape at some point in the ALCS."
Rookie Ben Williamson — who hasn’t appeared in a game for Seattle since being demoted to Triple-A Tacoma in late July — was added to the Mariners’ 26-man playoff roster. Fellow rookie Harry Ford also made the roster, giving the Mariners three catchers.
The Tigers kept right-handed reliever Paul Sewald and outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy off the roster in favor of infielder Colt Keith and right-hander Brenan Hanifee. Sewald was not used in the AL Wild Card round.
Hanifee appeared in 54 games and compiled a 3.00 ERA across 60 innings. Keith finished the year on the 10-day injured list with right rib cage inflammation, but hit .256 with 13 home runs and 45 RBIs when healthy in 2025.
“We put him through a workout yesterday, he hit live off a couple pitchers, and once he was deemed healthy, it was a pretty easy decision," said manager A.J. Hinch. “We wanted his bat in the lineup. We’ll be somewhat conservative with the defense, just all the different plays and angles and stress that we can put on him.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws against the Seattle Mariners during a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer (31) reacts as he works against the Boston Red Sox during first inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran expanded its targets Tuesday, striking the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia as Washington began to pull many staff out of the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel battered Iran with airstrikes in what President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a war that has severely disrupted the world’s supply of oil and gas, international shipping, and air travel.
The conflict escalated further on its fourth day, with Israel sending new ground troops into Lebanon and explosions ringing out in Iran’s capital. Hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority in Iran.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end. Trump said it could last four to five weeks — but that the U.S. was prepared to go longer. He seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive U.S. military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground.
Still, the administration's objectives remain unclear. The initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government.
Since then, however, senior administration officials have said regime change was not the goal. Trump’s initial announcement of the strikes listed several grievances, from concerns about Iran’s nuclear and missile programs to its leadership.
An attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait that announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice.
The U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the U.S. has urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remained stranded.
The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. In Israel, where Iranian missiles struck several locations, 11 people were killed. The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah has also attacked Israel, whose retaliatory strikes killed 52 people in Lebanon.
The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead. Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no one was injured.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.”
The U.S. hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs. He offered no evidence to support his claim.
“We had to take the action now and we did,” Netanyahu told Fox News Channel’s Hannity.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two Iranian nuclear sites before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.
The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, Khamenei's killing and the lack of any apparent exit plan suggested the conflict could be prolonged.
Trump said Monday that operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” He later added the U.S. had a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions.
“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” he wrote on social media.
Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes. Recent targets included two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. The centers in the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near the one Bahrain, causing damage, the company said.
Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowing that any ships that passed through it would be set on fire.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari vowed that Iranian attacks on the gas-rich country “will not go unanswered.”
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions on several strategic points close to the border.
Israel also hit Beirut with more airstrikes, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.” Explosions could be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its border positions. A senior Hezbollah official, Mohamoud Komati, said the group now had no option but to fight Israel.
This story has been updated to clarify that more than one drone hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Some instances referred to just one drone.
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Magdy from Cairo. Konstantin Toropin in Washington, David Rising in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report.
A firefighter extinguishes fire at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman crosses almost deserted square with a billboard at rear showing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.–Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
An Iranian flag is placed among the ruins of a police station struck Monday during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Jewish men covered in prayer shawls pray in an underground parking garage as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
