Kyle Schwarber is no stranger to mammoth postseason home runs. His shot in the top of the sixth inning of Game 1 of the NLCS against Padres starter Yu Darvish, however, was his first postseason homer with the Phillies.
Schwarber more than got his money’s worth. Mammoth? This thing in the Phillies’ 2-0 win was titanic.
As noted in the tweet, that was 488 feet. It was a ridiculous 119.7 miles per hour. Let’s take a look at Schwarber’s teammate Bryce Harper — who homered earlier in the game — for the proper reaction to that herculean blast:
According to Major League Baseball, as long as they’ve been tracking distances, this marked the longest home run ever in Petco Park. Also, this was the hardest-hit postseason home run in the Statcast (2015) era, topping a 2020 Giancarlo Stanton bomb.
That ball is now safe, however, as it is in the hands of someone who won’t hurt it quite as much as Schwarber’s bat just did.
Schwarber led the NL with 46 home runs in the regular season after hitting 32 in just 113 games last season. In his time with the Cubs, he homered six times in 66 postseason at-bats, including a few famous ones, most notably one on top of the right-field videoboard against the Cardinals in the 2015 NLDS. Last year with the Red Sox, he hit three homers in 44 at-bats, including a grand slam in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Astros. Through two series this season, however, he had gone 1 for 20 with eight strikeouts.
Schwarber walked and singled before his home run in Game 1 of the NLCS Tuesday, so maybe he’s starting to get on track. That would be bad news for the Padres.
