Mason Miller makes history, but Wild Card Series Game 3 may put Padres flamethrower to the test vs. Cubs

CHICAGO – We’ve become a bit habituated to all the triple-digit fastballs and sharp, unhittable late movement populating Major League Baseball these days. Relievers especially have been bred and fed to max out velocity, and so many of them regularly clock readings that would’ve been unthinkable less than a generation ago. And there’s Mason Miller, the San Diego Padres‘ fire-breathing high-leverage reliever and the club’s flagship trade-deadline addition. 

However routine “pitch nastiness” has become for the regular observer of this sport, a pitcher like Miller still redefines what we think a ball leaving a human hand should be able to do. Miller loudly reminded us of this during the later innings of the San Diego Padres’ 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs (box score) in Wednesday’s Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series. 

With the Padres down 0-1 in the best-of-three set and thus facing elimination, Miller got the call from manager Mike Shildt after starter Dylan Cease and All-Star lefty setup man Adrián Morejón combined for six scoreless. Staked to a 3-0 lead that he would maintain, Miller struck out Seiya Suzuki, Carson Kelly, and Pete Crow-Armstrong in the seventh. Then in the eighth, Miller struck out Dansby Swanson and Moisés Ballesteros before just nicking the pant leg of Michael Busch with a 1-0 backfoot slider that back-footed just a bit too much. At that point, Shildt went to closer Robert Suarez for what would be a four-out save. The relevant moving pictures: 

Through the magic of color television sports programming, let’s revisit strike three to Kelly because in some ways it’s “The Mason Miller Experience” distilled down to a single pitch with which the batter can do nothing but genuflect before it: 

Yes, as claimed, that’s that 104.5 mph four-seamer is the fastest postseason pitch on record. Given that probably no one was throwing 104.5 mph before we had reliable means to measure such things, yes, it’s probably the fastest pitch anyone has ever thrown in the playoffs. 

“104, we like that,” Shildt said after Game 2 while complimenting Miller’s “pretty impressive” outing. 

Miller in Game 2 threw 11 fastballs, and those were the 11 fastest pitches thrown by anyone in Game 2. He averaged 103 mph with it. Miller on Wednesday got six whiffs on 10 swings and, looping in his Game 1 performance on Tuesday, he’s now struck out eight of the nine batters he’s faced in this series. That’s against a Cubs offense that during the regular season was one of the toughest in MLB to strike out. 

All of this raises the necessary matter of whether Miller will be available for Thursday’s game, which will decide whether the Padres or Cubs advance to face the Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series. Shildt after Game 2 addressed that pressing matter: 

“Yeah, I mean, listen. I mean, Morejon and Miller have gone back-to-back days. Both got extended today. Morejon is still efficient, but 33 pitches. Miller in the 30s for two games combined. I would have an expectation that all hands are on deck tomorrow, but we’re also going to take their temperature and be smart. We’ve got to value their careers as well. But we’ve also been — we’ve only had two guys go three days in a row all year, and we’ve done it and saved it for these circumstances. Obviously in an elimination game, there’s special circumstances.”

Miller threw 13 pitches in Game 1 on Tuesday and then 27 in Game 2. Only once this season has Miller worked three straight days, and that was back in May, before the Padres acquired him from the A’s. Here’s how he fared while pitching in every game of that three-game set against the Phillies: 

• May 23: ⅔ IP, 3 R, 1 SO, 27 pitches
• May 24: 1 IP, 1 R, 3 SO, 21 pitches
• May 25: 1 IP, 0 R, 1 SO, 12 pitches

At the time, he was coming off a combined 48 pitches before being called upon for the third leg of a back-to-back-to-back. In the here and now, he’s coming off 40 pitches. Obviously, we shouldn’t read too much into a one-off more than four months ago and compare it to the effort level and intensity of playoff baseball, but Shildt will be operating from precedent if he leans on Miller in Game 3. As for the “value their careers” part, Shildt is no doubt invoking ethical principles, and adding to it is the fact that the 27-year-old Miller is under team control through the 2029 season and thus a valuable part of the Padres’ future. 

For now, though, the focus is on the Padres’ present and their designs on the first World Series title in franchise history, and that’s why you may indeed see Miller make another crucial appearance on Thursday. If what he did in Game 2 is any guide, he’ll miss bats and drop jaws once again.