Red Sox fans thought Luis Garcia and the Houston Astros were cheating in Game 6, gifting him increased fastball velocity.
As several MLB analysts pointed out during Game 6, Garcia’s average fastball velocity is around 93.3 MPH. On Friday night, that number increased to 97.8 MPH.
Is Garcia using some sort of sticky stuff? If you’re from Boston, you can believe that all you want. Odds are, however, the radar gun was off.
Luis Garcia's stuff is ticking way, way, way up tonight. Like 3 full mph. Already he's thrown the four hardest pitches of his major league career, including one at 97.8 mph. And after a season in which his fastball averaged 93.3 mph, he's sitting at an average of 96.3 tonight.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 23, 2021
Either that, or we could just believe that Garcia waited until the biggest appearance of his young career to have his best night.
Red Sox fans, however, assumed Garcia’s increased velo was not of the legal variety.
You can't just pull an extra 3mph on your fastball out of your ass. That's not possible. It'd be one thing if he was dialing it up to similar career highs, but he threw the FOUR hardest pitches of his CAREER in this one start? With a 3mph jump on his average velo? Nope.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) October 23, 2021
It’s unfortunate that the Astros’ past transgressions are impacting their young, present talent. Garcia was not an impact player during Houston’s 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Yet, he’s still being judged for their wrongdoings.
Want to know why Luis Garcia’s stuff looked extra nasty tonight? He added a lot of velo and spin (+85 RPM and +2.7 MPH). Also adds 2 less inches of drop (gives the fastball more of a rising effect to the hitter). No spider tack, just emptying out the tank ⛽️ - via @MLBNerds
— Xavier Scruggs (@Xavier_Scruggs) October 23, 2021
Astros: Luis Garcia gives Houston outing of a lifetime
“Everybody was really happy because I did the job that they needed from me tonight,” Garcia said. “And as far as being in the World Series, just really excited to be part of my first World Series. It’s like a dream come true really.”
As for the Red Sox, Boston far exceeded their expectations in 2021. It’s easy to lose track of that with Boston just two wins away from the AL pennant, but Red Sox fans shouldn’t let a tough end to their season spoil an otherwise successful campaign.