Statcast of the Day: Chapman’s World Series heat

Every time Aroldis Chapman takes the mound, he seems to set some sort of velocity mark. Despite the cold temperatures in Cleveland, Game 2 of the World Series — which the Cubs won, 5-1, on Wednesday night to even the Fall Classic — was no different. With his first pitch of the night, Chapman’s 101.5 mph fastball to Jose Ramirez became the fastest tracked pitch in World Series history.

It’s fair to note that tracked velocity records go back only to 2008, when Pitch-f/x came online before Statcast™ joined it in 2015. Despite slight differences in tracking methodology, Chapman’s pitch was the top pitch recorded by either one, topping the 101.4 mph heater that Kansas City’s Kelvin Herrera threw in Game 2 of the 2014 World Series.

• Game 3: Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET air time | 8 ET game time on FOX

Chapman didn’t stop there, of course. So far, we’ve talked only about his first pitch, and he’d throw 21 more fastballs (along with one slider). Eighteen of those 22 fastballs would top the century mark, and one, to Coco Crisp, would actually max out at 104.1 mph. That’s the new standard, at least until Chapman gets around to breaking that one, too. And Crisp deserves some amount of credit for actually being able to make enough contact to ground out to second baseman Javier …

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