Tigers' RHP confident of return

Detroit Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer is confident in his chances of rejoining his team later this week for the end of the regular season or this weekend during the American League Division Series, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com:

"Everything went well," he said. "I was able to go to 100 feet pain-free, threw all my pitches and had a feel on all of them."

If Scherzer is feeling no ill-effects from yesterday’s 10-minute throwing routine, he’ll pitch a full bullpen session tonight before the Tigers’ contest against the Kansas City Royals. Tonight’s bullpen would then determine the 28-year-old’s availability for Wednesday’s regular season finale.

While Wednesday is Scherzer’s next scheduled start, Tigers manager Jim Leyland has said he won’t have the right-hander pitch if the team has already clinched the AL Central. If that’s the case, Drew Smyly wills start Wednesday, allowing Scherzer to prepare for the ALDS, according to Beck.

On the season Scherzer has maintained an ERA of 3.82 over 31 starts spanning 183 2/3 innings with a league-leading 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings compared to 2.8 walks per nine innings.