Longest postseason homers tracked by Statcast

Longest postseason homers tracked by Statcast

October 22nd, 2023

Hitting is tougher than ever in October. Teams deploy their best pitchers, and the pressure on every pitch ramps up to max intensity.

But that hasn't stopped baseball's biggest sluggers from crushing some monster postseason home runs. Few plays match the adrenaline rush of a grandiose homer in the playoffs.

Here are the longest postseason home runs since Statcast began tracking in 2015.

1. , Cubs: 491 feet
2017 NLCS Game 4
Trailing 3-0 in the series, the Cubs needed a jolt when Contreras stepped to the plate against Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood in a scoreless tie in the second inning at Wrigley Field. The Chicago catcher provided just that, teeing off on a meaty fastball and sending it soaring high off the video board above the left-field bleachers.

2. , Phillies: 488 feet
2022 NLCS Game 1
Schwarber had hit a big postseason blast before in his Cubs days (see below). But this one took it to a new level. With the Phillies playing their first NLCS game since 2010 and already leading the Padres, 1-0, after a Bryce Harper dinger, Schwarber destroyed a Yu Darvish cutter and sent it rocketing into the second deck at Petco Park. The 119.7 mph solo shot gave Schwarber the fifth-hardest homer hit by anyone in the Statcast Era (and hardest in the postseason), as well as the longest homer hit by a Phillies player or by anyone at Petco Park during that time.

3. , White Sox: 487 feet
2020 AL WC Series Game 3
With one mighty swing of the bat in Game 3 of the White Sox's AL Wild Card Series matchup against the A’s, the 23-year-old Robert became the youngest AL player to homer in a winner-take-all postseason game since Mickey Mantle in 1952. Robert showed why he was an uber-hyped prospect -- his blast set a new record for home run distance by a White Sox player since Statcast began tracking in 2015, and it also set the distance record for any dinger struck at the Oakland Coliseum in that span.

4. , Yankees: 479 feet
2018 ALDS Game 2
Sánchez is no stranger to prodigious big flies. On Aug. 22, 2017, he launched one that cleared the left field seats at Detroit's Comerica Park and was projected at 493 feet -- one of the 10 longest homers in Statcast history. His October feat from this game may have been more impressive, given the circumstances. At 479 feet, Sánchez tied for the fifth-longest homer hit across MLB in 2018, and the distance set a Fenway Park Statcast record.

5. , Phillies: 461 feet
2023 NLCS Game 5
Huge postseason homers were nothing new by the time Schwarber launched this one, his fifth of the 2023 NLCS. The 114.1 mph, 461-foot moonshot off Arizona's Zac Gallen was his 11th in NLCS play -- giving him the most all-time, surpassing the 10 hit by Albert Pujols -- and his third addition to this list (see above and below). At the end of the night, the Phillies' Game 5 win was as big as Schwarber's blast, as it sent them back to Philadelphia one win away from taking home a second consecutive pennant.

6 (tie). , Braves: 460 feet
2021 World Series Game 5
While there have been longer home runs hit in the postseason, no World Series shot tracked by Statcast has been longer than Freeman's. His solo shot off Astros starter Framber Valdez in the third inning of Game 5 broke a 4-4 tie and put the Braves on top in a potential World Series clincher, although the Astros rallied for a 9-5 victory. It was his fourth homer of the postseason, which marked half of his total postseason homers to that point in his career.

6 (tie). , Braves: 460 feet
2019 NLDS Game 1
The Cardinals eked out a road win in this opening-game matchup at SunTrust Park, but not before the Braves launched some moonshots off St. Louis closer Carlos Martinez. Atlanta trailed, 7-3, entering the bottom of the ninth before Ronald Acuña Jr. crushed a two-run blast to left-center field (more on that one below). Two batters later, Freeman took Martinez deep with a 109.7 mph shot into the pool in straightaway center that cut the Cardinals' lead to just one. Martinez composed himself for the save, but Atlanta's stars gave him plenty to think about for the rest of the series.

8. , Cubs: 459 feet
2015 NLCS Game 1
The Cubs trailed the Mets, 4-1, in the eighth inning at Citi Field when Schwarber finally ended Matt Harvey's night by launching a high fastball way out to right-center field. Chicago went on to lose the game and the series -- a year before completing a championship run -- but for Schwarber it was the fourth of five homers he slugged in 27 at-bats that October as a rookie

9. , Yankees: 458 feet
2020 ALDS Game 2
The baseball world had certainly become accustomed to prodigious home runs from Stanton by this point. But this one was awe-inspiring even for him -- Stanton crushed a 97 mph fastball from Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow 458 feet to left-center field at Petco Park for a three-run homer to get the Yankees to within a run of Tampa Bay in the fourth inning. The ball left the bat at 118.4 mph, the highest exit velocity for a postseason home run tracked by Statcast (since 2015). It was also the second homer of the game for Stanton, and his fifth over a four-game span.

10. , Braves: 455 feet
2019 NLDS Game 1
Acuña raised his home run total by 15 from his rookie season to his sophomore campaign, and he proved that his 41 dingers were no fluke in the Braves' postseason opener. The star's 455-foot blast injected life into the Atlanta crowd that was seeing its club fall in danger of letting home-field advantage slip away.

11 (tie). , Braves: 454 feet
2021 NLCS Game 2
Pederson is no stranger to postseason home runs -- his Game 2 moonshot was the 12th of his career -- he's historically had good timing, too, with six of the 12 being game-tying or go-ahead shots. So when the Braves, looking to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in the NLCS, fell behind in the first inning, perhaps we should have expected Pederson's game-tying 454-foot blast off of Max Scherzer, who had surrendered only two runs in 12 1/3 playoff innings before being touched up by the Braves outfielder.

11 (tie). , Rays: 454 feet
2020 ALCS Game 2
Zunino homered only four times in the abbreviated 2020 regular season, but this moonshot marked his third big fly through the first three rounds of the postseason. The catcher's 111.1 mph solo shot added a big insurance run as the Rays looked to go up two games to none over the defending AL champion Astros.

13 (tie). , Yankees: 453 feet
2020 ALDS Game 4
After leading the Majors with 22 home runs during the regular season, Voit connected for the first postseason home run of his career to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the second inning of a must-win Game 4. Voit crushed a slider from Rays opener Ryan Thompson 453 feet to left-center field, nearly to the same location as teammate Giancarlo Stanton's 458-foot shot two days prior.

13 (tie). , Athletics: 453 feet
2020 ALDS Game 2
Balls were flying out of Dodger Stadium at prodigious rates during this unique neutral-site series between two AL West foes in the A's and Astros. Pinder was inserted into Oakland's starting lineup with Houston lefty Framber Valdez on the mound, and Pinder made that move look smart, launching this ball the opposite way with a 111.8 mph exit velocity.

13 (tie). , Royals: 453 feet
2015 ALDS Game 4
Hosmer sure got ahold of one in October 2015, providing two big insurance runs in the ninth inning of a 9-6 victory at Houston that evened the ALDS at two games apiece. A strong high-ball hitter, Hosmer was all over a heater from righty Josh Fields and sent it soaring to the back of the bullpen in deep right-center field. His shot helped push Kansas City along on its championship run.