Posted on 09/12/2019 9:32:20 AM PDT by DFG
Major League Baseball’s remarkable home run surge has led to countless records being broken this season.
Now the biggest one has fallen.
When Jonathan Villar of the Baltimore Orioles launched a three-run home run during Wednesday’s 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was No. 6,106 hit across MLB this season.
That breaks the previous record of 6,105 hit in 2017.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
It’ll be broken next year when relievers will have to face a minimum of three batters. Unless they unjuice the ball.
Asterisk: new baseballs
Hand wrapped in Central America by poor folks using the same materials they used 10 20 etc years ago. Maybe they’re wrapping them tighter…maybe?
Perhaps it’s the result of sabremetrics (snicker)
That's pathetic.
Baseball is just fine.
Anyone not wanting to watch anymore, fine. Don’t let the barn door hit ya...
Ya know, FReepers can be some of the biggest whiners on the planet at times.
Records come and records go. Who knew?
Babe Ruth is no longer the home run king. Boo hoo...
Come on folks, get a fricken grip.
More home runs are the end of the game? ROTF LMAO...
I think it's a couple of things. The ball is certainly different. I've heard a couple of reporters and analysts who spoke with pitchers who have said that the lower/tighter stitching is definitely affecting their ability to throw anything other than the fastball. For instance, I've seen Stepen Strasburg struggle with his grip quite a bit.
I also think this new obsession with launch angle is having a real impact. Then too so is the velocity pitchers are throwing today. You get a big result when a bat travelling at 103 mph hits a ball travelling at 98 mph.
Whatever it is, I'm ok with it. I like offense. But in my mind all the new HR records are being recorded with an asterisk.
“Wonder if the growth of legalized sports betting has anything to do with this....”
I suspect it has more to do with data and customer survey reports created for the Commissioner’s office showing that the longer span of attention and greater patience needed to watch and understand baseball is at odds with the extreme (and growing) attention span issues and adrenaline-rush seeking in the population at large. The audience is changing (and in most cases probably not for the better. People need to be jolted by the dramatic and are not patient or engaged enough to grasp the subtlety that dominates much of the game.
So they’re trying to make the game fit a changed audience. I went to a game on Monday, not a great one, it was an early blow out...I looked around and almost every woman attending the game was watching their phone not the game play...probably on Instagram or Pinterest or Facebook. The men were mostly watching but the women could just as well have been in their living rooms. The only time they looked up was when a hitter really put a charge into the ball. Then back to their phones. I think more than anything the attention issues in our society and culture are causing baseball to tweak the game to increase the adrenaline-rush factor.
“um is built (a frequent occurance) the outfield walls move towards home plate about 10 feet.”
I wish that were true. Check out the vastness of Comerica Park in Detroit. There is considerably more playing field than there was in old Tiger stadium. I wish they would move the fences in.
You must have missed Ryan Zimmerman's third AB last night in Minneapolis.
Chicks dig the long ball.
MLB can deny it all they want, but they juiced the baseball to keep fans engaged and prop-up attendance and ratings.
I believe you are correct in all counts.
My Royals have a player who went from 12 homeruns last year to 42 this year. Tell me the ball isn’t juiced.
I watch every Yankee game that’s not on after 10 pm (west coast games.
I’m a life long fan. Grew up a mile or 2 from the stadium.
Not really a sports fan except for this. I liked the Rangers when Nolan Ryan was involved with the team.
My real sports are outdoor sports. Hunting Fishing Shooting.
What you said!
I think the fences have been moved in twice at Comerica since it opened.
Ball is ridiculously juiced.
It’s homers or whiffs.
Boring.
Hunting Fishing Camping used to be mine as well until I lost the ability to walk on uneven ground. Now I read and write poetry and short stories. LOL
The players and the baseballs are both juiced up.
The emergence of the infield shift has made it much more difficult to get ground ball hits. Hence teams are adopting a strategy of hit it over their heads.
I noticed this too , that people at ballgames don’t seem to be as involved in watching the game. Many are playing with a cellular phone.
One of my pleasures from decades ago was talking baseball with people sitting near us at the ball park. Nowadays, most of my fellow fans seem not to know anything about baseball history, or baseball strategy, who the players are, or other details. I think a lot of people at the games consider it a social event, to see their friends, and the fact that a ball game is going on is incidental to them.
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