Expand the strike zone but make the pitchers play shoeless, gloveless and naked.
Need to increase the weight of the baseball. Not necessarily the dimensions but perhaps include a denser material in the core of the ball. I mean baseballs are just 5 1/4 ounces. Even increasing the weight by a 1/2 ounce would have an impact on velocity and home run totals. It’d also make it harder to throw people out stealing. Maybe we can get a Rickey Henderson type player again.
The balls were juiced during the 90s to jack up home runs. Time to weaken it to reduce them. The game is too redundant and predictable. It’s like golf sometimes.
In all likelihood, this had a far bigger impact on the game than roids
I wonder what impact that would have on pitchers arms? Already so much stress on them, feels like bumping baseball weight by 10% could result in a lot of injuries but idk
Make the pitchers throw underhanded
I gotta say…
Mrs Met has alllllll the ass
I think deadening the ball probably just results in dead ball baseball. Is there some reason to believe it wouldn’t? Part of me wonders if this wasn’t always the trajectory and final conclusion of solving baseball. I get the idea that bloop hits and seeing eye singles add to the diversity of outcomes of batted balls from a fan’s perspective, but those were never gonna be part of an optimal solution. There’s never a time where you’re trying for a single that isn’t a bunt because it just doesn’t make any sense. The story is told by exactly one table:
https://twitter.com/darenw/status/651820651276292097
Anyway, the point is that no one should ever be trying to “hit singles” because that’s a very bad baseball strategy. You can also scratch off triples since those are mostly anomalies due to weird kicks or misplays and not something you’d specifically be “trying” to do. As a hitter, you’d should be trying to hit the ball hard enough to produce home runs and doubles depending on your particular skill set. So it’s not that different from TTO really.
I’m still not sold on any of the proposed fixes, but one thing I’ve always been in favor of is making the outfield walls taller. Higher walls should reward athletic players who can hit for power and run bases while disadvantaging fat guys, and that seems fair to me. It should also help good defenders who can read the carom and/or throw well.
Yeah, but that’s baseball. Its a stat driven game and when the ball is juiced there are too many homers and the stats get skewed. Do we really want to see Vlad Guerroro hitting 85 homers or DeGrom leading the league with a 6.75 ERA? The lively ball has changed the strategy in a way that’s made the game more boring. I’m sure the intent was to make it more exciting. Scooter Gennett hit four homers in a game. That’'s just wrong. They just need to deaden the ball to the degree that the game plays more like it used to statistically, if that’s possible.
Tigers current have one defender on the infield dirt lol
(4 outfielders, 2 infielders way out of the dirt. 1b only on the dirt)
But the stats aren’t skewed, people aren’t hitting 85 HRs, and Cy Young candidates don’t have 6.75 ERAs. The scoring average for last season was just about right on the historical MLB average for runs per game. The way they’re getting there is different, but that’s mostly because the game has evolved due to people solving baseball and playing it optimally.
2 Likes
First time to Coors tonight. Great park. Feels like it could’ve been built 2 years ago, not 27.
1 Like
Tell Charlie to hit a fucking HR
Nohtani perfect thru 5 with 11 Ks. Good god.
Haven’t looked up any stats to speak of, but it just seems like they have in fact deadened the baseball to some degree this season. Zach Greinke has pitched 11 innings with just 1 strikeout and no homers allowed. I’ve seen a few batters hit deep fly balls and react as if they were gone, only to see them caught on the warning track. Not seeing as many blowouts. My DFS scores seem to be down a lot. It all speaks to a less lively baseball.
Ohtani has to be GOAT if he can continue this level of play into his 30s, right?
1 Like
I’ve seen a few stories this week with stats about how homers are noticeably down. The introduction of humidors at every park this season seems like the best explanation.
That’s good. I don’t care how they do it, but they’re doing the right thing. Games will play faster, we won’t be seeing as many reserve infielders pitching the 8th and 9th innings, starters will go deeper into games, and pitchers will not be punished as much for pitching to contact.
Which era of baseball would you like to see the stats match up with more? Is there a particular decade or decades you think are optimal?
Oh…I don’t know. Probably the 70’s and 80’s. 1 HR per team per game seems about right. Maybe slightly less. 200 HRs for a team in a season should seem like a lot. I think the livelier ball has only lengthened games and added to strikeouts and walks, along with HRs of course.
If they go that route, they’re going to have to do something to tilt the scales in favour of hitters at the same time. Home runs so far this season are about the same as they were in 1986, but look at these slash lines:
1986: .258/.326/.395
2022: .230/.309/.369
Add to that that strikeouts are up by about three per team per game. The game is no less boring this season with fewer home runs than it was since the Three True Outcomes era started.