2025 MLB Postseason Continues To Set Velocity Records

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Edgardo Henriquez (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

In Game 3 of the World Series Monday, the Dodgers found themselves in desperate straits as the game ticked deeper and deeper into extra innings.

After Clayton Kershaw got the Dodgers out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 12th inning, Los Angeles was forced to turn to the two relievers who had not even been on the NLCS roster. Edgardo Henriquez had not pitched since he threw an inning in the Wild Card round on Sept. 30. Will Klein’s last outing came in the regular season on Sept. 26.

The two righthanders proceeded to dominate the Blue Jays lineup for a combined six scoreless innings. Henriquez sat at 100-101 mph, while Klein hovered around 97-98 and touched 99. Two relievers who were only on the roster for dire emergencies like this stepped onto the mound throwing harder than 99.99% of all MLB pitchers who have ever pitched in a game.

It was a fitting development for this year. Because even with four potential games left to be played, this has already been the postseason with the most velocity the game has ever seen.

Yes, pitch-tracking data only goes back to 2008. But considering the trends, we can comfortably say that never before has there been a postseason with anything like the top-tier velocity we’re seeing in 2025.

Teams have thrown 269 pitches at 100-plus mph this postseason, which is 2.1% of all postseason pitches this year. That’s more 100-plus mph pitches than were seen in 2008-2013 postseasons combined. The 1,163 pitches at 98-plus mph are more than were thrown in the 2008-2012 postseasons combined.

This postseason has seen the most 95-plus mph pitches of any postseason in the pitch tracking era. It’s also seen the most 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103 and 104-plus mph.

Thanks to Aroldis Chapman’s 40 102+ mph pitches in the 2016 postseason, this year’s 30 pitches in that range remain in second place. Unless Henriquez becomes a much bigger part of the Dodgers’ bullpen over the remainder of the World Series, that may be one mark that stays safe this year.

But in every other way, this is a year in which hitters have faced more velocity than ever before. Weâ€ve now reached the point where facing an array of 95-plus mph pitches is part of nearly every hitterâ€s nightly routine.

And 98+ mph is no longer an aberration, either.

It’s most shocking to see how triple digits, which used to be an exceptional rarity, has become almost commonplace. We have seen 18 pitchers throw 100-plus mph in this postseason. Only 18 different pitchers touched 100 mph in a postseason game in the six postseasons from 2008-2013 combined.

The ever-increasing velocity of pitchers across the board combined with the decline in usage of fourth starters (who have often been replaced by bullpen games) has made hitters’ lives hell.

In 2008, hitters saw 758 sub-90 mph fastballs in the postseason, which accounted for 7.9% of all pitches thrown that year. They hit .289/.359/.463 against those “heaters.”

This year, hitters have faced 54 sub-90 mph fastballs in the postseason, which is 0.4% of all pitches thrown. They’ve hit .273/.273/.273 against them, but they are so rare that they barely register. There were 54 hits against sub-90 mph fastballs in 2008. There have been three this postseason.

What have those so-called heaters been replaced by? Breaking balls that are thrown harder than the fastballs of just a generation ago. This year has seen 264 breaking balls thrown at 92 mph or above. That’s more than were thrown in the 2008-2021 postseasons combined.

Nowadays, even the emergency relievers throw with the stuff of elite closers from just a generation ago. As this year’s postseason is showing, it’s never been more challenging to be a hitter.

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