Freddy Peralta will carry a different kind of heat into Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night, when the series moves to St. Petersburg. The Rays right-hander has always had a live fastball, but the version showing up this October has been something else entirely: a four-seamer averaging 96.9 mph across four postseason appearances, up from 94.3 mph during the regular season.
That 2.6 mph jump is more than a little October adrenaline. Peralta has leaned heavily on the pitch, using the four-seamer 67.1% of the time in the playoffs, and Tampa Bay will hand him the ball with the club trusting that the extra gear is real. He has made three starts and also worked a brief, three-batter relief appearance in Game 4 of the ALCS, when six fastballs averaged 97.5 mph. Even leaving that bullpen outing out of the calculation, his postseason average remains 96.9 mph.
In pitch-tracking data dating to 2008, only Roki Sasaki has posted a larger regular-season-to-postseason increase among pitchers with at least 75 four-seamers thrown in one playoff year. Sasaki gained 2.8 mph in the 2025 postseason, while Peralta’s 2026 rise ranks next at 2.6. Kevin Gausman added 2.3 mph in 2014, José Leclerc and Tanner Rainey each gained 2.2, Ryan Madson rose 2.1, and Jered Weaver and Jon Lester each registered a 2.0 mph increase.
Peralta’s place on that list matters because most of the other cases came with relief work. Sasaki found a mechanical adjustment last October and also benefited from bullpen usage. Gausman shifted from the Orioles’ rotation to a playoff relief role in 2014, while Leclerc, Rainey and Madson were relievers. Weaver made four postseason appearances for the Angels in 2009, two from the bullpen. Lester is the closest match: the Red Sox left-hander made four starts in the 2008 playoffs, including two against Tampa Bay in the ALCS, and saw his average fastball rise from 93.1 to 95.1 mph.
October fastball, starter’s workload
Velocity usually climbs once the calendar turns to October. Shorter outings, deeper bullpens and the charge of postseason baseball all play a part. In 2026, the postseason four-seamer has averaged 96.3 mph, the highest mark recorded for a single playoff year in the tracking era. That is nearly a full mph above the 2024 postseason figure, and well ahead of the 94.8 mph average four-seamer during this year’s regular season.
But Peralta has not merely caught the broader October wave. He has thrown more four-seam fastballs than any pitcher in these playoffs and has maintained the extra velocity rather than flashing it for an inning or two. He has credited adrenaline after each of his three starts, yet the radar readings have become a sustained part of his work.
Against the Guardians in Game 6 of the ALCS, Peralta threw 33 pitches at 97 mph or harder. That outing included five of the quickest pitches of his career, topped by a 99.4 mph fastball to Jo Adell. In every one of his three postseason starts, he has reached 20 pitches at 97 mph or above. Before October, his career high in a game was 18.
The larger sample is just as striking. Of his 173 playoff four-seamers, only one has been measured at 94.3 mph or below. The other 172 all came in faster than his regular-season average.
The Rays’ work with Peralta after acquiring him from the Mets at the Trade Deadline has helped set the stage. Tampa Bay moved him away from a hands-over-the-head windup, prioritizing a delivery that felt more natural to him. Pitching coach Kyle Snyder and bullpen coach Jorge Moncada worked with him on a quicker motion and the return of the extension that helps his fastball arrive with more life. The club also encouraged greater use of his changeup, fitting for an organization that relies on that pitch more than any other.
The transformation did not show up immediately. Over his first three starts with the Rays, Peralta’s four-seamer averaged only 93.8 mph. Then came a September hint that the engine was beginning to turn over. On Sept. 19 against the Red Sox, he threw 58 four-seamers at an average of 96.4 mph, his best single-game fastball average since 2019. His next start, against the Phillies, produced a 96.2 mph average.
Since then, Peralta has brought the fastball into a new neighborhood. The Rays still need him to command it, particularly at the top of the zone, where he has done his best work this postseason. But in October, a starter who can keep reaching back for 97, 98 and more changes the feel of every at-bat. Peralta has done that without easing off the workload, and Monday night offers Tampa Bay another chance to ride that rare postseason surge.
