Jacob Misiorowski broke the record for fastest World Series pitch with the very first offering of this year’s Fall Classic, a 103.5 mph fastball from the Milwaukee Brewers’ fireballer to the Tampa Bay Rays’ Yandy Diaz on Friday night.
Aroldis Chapman of the Chicago Cubs set the mark for a Series pitcher at 103.2 mph in the ninth inning of Game 2 in 2016, an offering that resulted in a groundout to second by Cleveland’s Coco Crisp.
Misiorowski’s first pitch, taken for a ball above the strike zone, was listed at 103.4 mph on the stadium video boards but clocked at 103.5 by MLB’s Statcast system.
Misiorowski’s first 10 pitches to the Rays were fastballs, including two hit for singles. He threw fastballs on 11 of 13 pitches in a scoreless first, reaching 100 mph with 10 of them and averaging 101.9 mph.
A 24-year-old right-hander whose heat has captivated the sport since his debut in June 2025, Misiorowski easily outdistanced the previous high by a starting pitcher in the Series since tracking started in 2008. The New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard threw a 101.1 mph pitch to Kansas City’s Ben Zobrist that was taken for a ball in the first inning of Game 3 in 2015.
Misiorowski threw 1,115 pitches 100 mph or higher this year, shattering the old high of 673 by Jordan Hicks of St. Louis in 2018.
His fastest pitch was 105.5 mph to the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong on June 27, just shy of the regular-season record of 105.8 mph by Chapman for Cincinnati against San Diego on Sept. 24, 2010.
Misiorowski reached 100 mph with 96 of 182 pitches in the Division Series and League Championship Series, including a high of 104.8 mph that was taken for a strike by San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. on the first pitch of the NLDS opener on Oct. 3. That set a mark for fastest postseason pitch, topping 104.5 mph by San Diego reliever Mason Miller on a called third strike to the Cubs’ Carson Kelly in the eighth inning of a Wild Card Series Game 2 last year.
Reporting by The Associated Press.