You may have heard some nervous chatter about the Chicago Cubs starting pitchers and their noticeable drop in fastball velocity. There has been speculation on why this is, from a switch in tracking technology, to age or wear and tear due to consecutive deep playoff runs. We had recently discussed some of this on the Dreamcast, and suggested that we need to monitor it more. For their part, the Cubs starters have not really worried too much about it.
Saturday, manager Joe Maddon spoke with the press about this and seemed to assuage some of our concerns:
Maddon explained a bit on why Cubs pitchers' velocity is down, particularly Arrieta's.