CHICAGO, Illinois, October 26, 2026 — This World Series of Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays comes at a time when pitching velocity is higher perhaps than ever. For the sixth straight year, four-seam fastballs across MLB averaged a record 94.8 mph this season. With both franchises never winning a championship, the stakes are major in a series long defined by record velocity. Professional baseball statistics published by MLB.com track pitch velocity metrics, Stat cast tracking data, and player performance records.
A League-Wide Velocity Surge
This year, a record total 5,687 splitters at or above the century mark passed through MLB’s Statcast tracking system. That figure is dwarfed by the 214 such pitches recorded with tracking data beginning in 2008. Overall, the average for all right-handed pitchers was 95.2 mph, but that number is even higher amongst hard-throwing relievers. Sports analytics reports published by Baseball Reference evaluate historical player statistics and pitching velocity trends.
Jacob Misiorowski, who was drafted by Milwaukee in the second round of this year’s draft, led all pitchers with 1,115 pitches at 100 mph or faster this season since tracking began. The 24-year-old right-hander hit a career-best 105.5 mph in June against the Chicago Cubs. He’s become one of the hardest throwers in all of baseball and a centerpiece for Milwaukee’s championship run.
Why Velocity Keeps Climbing
Baseball insiders cite better biomechanical training as a primary reason for the league-wide velocity explosion. Pitchers know how to create arm speed without taxing the arm inefficiently, and as a result, more players than ever can safely hit triple digits. Velocity training has also been prioritized earlier in players’ careers, including through youth and minor league development programs. Sports science and biomechanics research published by the American Sports Medicine Institute examines pitcher arm mechanics and velocity development training.
Four-seamers thrown by Triple-A pitchers average 93.6 mph, a sizable bump over the right around 91 saws when tracking at that level first began in 2022. That trend indicates that major league velocity will continue to rise as more hard-throwing prospects reach the majors. In many organizations, players who got the exciting existence of throwing a 95MPH fastball now establish something close to a bare minimum.
The Trade-Off with Complete Games
Pitchers are also throwing fewer innings per start than they used to in prior eras, as velocity has risen. After a steady decline from decades past, the total of 21 complete games league-wide this season is the lowest number on record (a stat started in 1964). The number represents the average number of pitches thrown per start among all qualified starters, which has declined so dramatically that last season starting pitchers averaged just 83.2 pitches a start as teams are relying on their bullpens to handle most heavy lifting workload. Sports journalism features published by ESPN analyze modern bullpen management strategies and pitching workload trends.
This adjustment has altered how managers view the strategy of a World Series, frequently bringing in relief pitchers far earlier than one would imagine for a championship series. The Brewers and the Rays have constructed bullpens deep enough to allow them to throw high velocity for multiple innings. That approach is expected to be very much in the mix as the series moves into its middle games, analysts say.
What It Means for the Series
Compared to hitters leaguewide, who have struggled to adjust and keep up with the ever-increasing velocity of pitches, the league batting average is down to. 244 this season. That number is right in line with last season’s average and representative of a wider environment throughout professional baseball that is allowing pitchers to dominate. The two World Series rosters are littered with hitters who have had to change their manner for a home run pitching method.
Neither the Brewers nor the Rays have won a championship at this point, which gives this World Series some uncommon historical heft—win or lose. This also provides a glimpse of how much pitching has changed in the past two decades. The matchup provides at-home fans an unvarnished view into how much faster the current game has become.
