DOWNTOWN — If it weren’t for his career path, he’d likely be a third generation season ticket holder. He was brought up on Cardinals baseball. Attended his first game and saw his first October before he could walk. Back in college, he carried a small flame for the possibility his boyhood team, his hometown club would be in position to draft him.

Max Scherzer is in baseball because of the Cardinals.

Tonight, he starts against them.

A confluence of dream scenarios comes to Busch Stadium tonight for the rookie, as Scherzer makes his first career start in his hometown still looking for his first major-league victory. Scherzer, a Parkway Central grad and former Mizzou All-American, could have close to 100 friends and family in the crowd tonight. MU’s baseball coaching staff is making the trek in to see their former ace. David Eckstein said he couldn’t invite any friends to tonight’s game because “Max grabbed all of our tickets.” A kid who dreamed of pitching at old Busch, of pitching for the Cardinals, will get that chance — with the potential for a win only adding to the evening.

“There might be some nerves,” Scherzer said Tuesday. “When (the first win) happens, it will be great, wherever it happens. Really, I just want to get a win.”

Scherzer, a 24-year-old native of Chesterfield, has been thrown into a pennant race, and he’s responded with two quality starts in his past three appearances. He starts tonight opposite Adam Wainwright in what will be the Cardinals’ ace last start of the season and what could be Scherzer’s.

Scherzer was a Cardinals draft pick out of high school, taken in the 43rd round but opting to go to Mizzou, where he would become the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. (Visited him at Columbia that next spring for this story.) After his junior year at Mizzou, Arizona drafted him in the first round — his uncertain signability was the only chance the Cardinals had at him — and after a length negotiations (he played independent ball for a bit), he signed and has surged through the Diamondbacks’ system. He had just more than 100 innings in pro ball before he made his major-league debut.

He made an impression in spring training. Sort of.

“He was trying to strike everybody out,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “He was like every pitch had to be a swing-and-a-miss pitch for him. … It was either a walk or a strikeout.”

Assigned to the Diamondbacks’ Class AAA team, Scherzer rounded out his approach and refined how he used his pitches. He no longer shrinks from contact or tries to blow through bats, though he does still adhere to the power of the high strike. He became more confident with his changeup. Through 53 innings in the minors this season, he held opponents to 35 hits and struck out 79. He reduced his walks to 22 and had a 2.72 ERA.

Standing in the Arizona clubhouse Tuesday he gave a quick reason for those Ks.

He started throwing his changeup consistently to righthanders.

“I had to get that third pitch I could throw to righthanders,” Scherzer said. “It had to be something different so that they wouldn’t cheat on the fastball or wait on the slider. I had something else up my sleeve that I could throw to them.”

The change of pace got him through the minors.

Slowing his pace has helped him adapt to the majors.

“For me, I had to adjust to the speed of the game and slow it down,” Scherzer said. ”Everything is so much faster up here, everything happens so much faster, it’s so much better competition. There’s a different speed of talent up here. It’s important to not speed things up because of that but instead go out and stay where I’m comfortable.”

Scherzer made his major-league debut a historic one, coming in relief on April 29 and throwing 4 1/3 perfect innings. Of the 13 outs he got, seven were strikeouts. It was the longest debut outing in modern baseball by any pitcher who retired every batter he faced. The seven strikeouts came one shy of the modern record for a reliever making his major-league debut. He followed that with a four-inning, five-strikeout start, and in his first four appearances he pitched 19 1/3 innings and struck out 23.

He missed about a month  with inflammation of his right shoulder — a month of rest that may be a reason why he’s finishing strong as other rookies slow.

Since returning to the majors, Scherzer has allowed seven earned runs in 20 innings (3.15 ERA) and he’s struck out 29 against just five walks. In three consecutive starts, he’s pitched at least five innings (twice pitching six) and has yet to allow more than seven hits. Against Cincinnati earlier this month, Scherzer struck out nine and allowed one run in six innings.

He received a no decision.

As Scherzer continues to hunt for his first major-league victory — he’s 0-3 – Arizona also considers what role the rookie will ultimately have. It’s just as likely that he’ll start next season in flux, either spirited out of the rotation and into a late-inning role or used as a fourth starter. That he’s getting the starts in a playoff chase says something.

“It’s open, for me, but he’s on the team to be a starter,” Melvin said. “He could do whatever the need is. The need for us is as a starter and he hasn’t done anything to suggest he couldn’t start.”

Said Scherzer: “Just give me the ball. I’ve had success in both (roles).”

And that’s how he’ll approach this homecoming. It’s the first of what he plans to be many starts at Busch Stadium, and the probability is they will mostly be against his boyhood team. There will be anxiety, but he also echoed the sentiment of Ryan Howard (Lafayette High) who describes playing at Busch as being back in the embrace of home, comforted by the familiarity of youthful dreams. Imagine yourself playing at a place long enough and it’s almost like you’ve been there a few times before.

It’s not Scherzer isn’t hurting for mentors. He’s in a rotation that includes two Cy Young Award winners in Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson, and a young pitcher who could vie for a few Cy Young awards before his career is done, Dan Haren. Webb preaches the value of pitching to contact. Johnson talks about location, location, location and the benefit of throwing a slider with command. Scherzer takes it in.

“Whatever they are saying,” he said, “I’m listening. I’m just listening.”

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