Scoring Down in Baseball This Season
The power shift in baseball has come into full force this season. This has been a pitcher’s season as we have seen no-hitters, perfect games, an abundance of strikeouts and rookie pitchers taking veteran hitters to school.
For so many years, baseball was all about the hitters and tons of offence. This season has been anything but that.
This season, National League teams average 4.39 runs a game, down from 4.43 last season. It’s the fourth straight year that number has declined. We’ve seen an even bigger drop in the American League from 4.82 last year to 4.54 right now.
Why has this happened? Many are quick to point out that the MLB have cracked down on performance-enhancing drugs so the slugging has been reduced. It could also mean teams are developing pitchers better or we are just seeing a rise in pitching talent.
Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen said at the All-Star Game: "It’s certainly different. It’s fair to make a statement that pitching right now is great. You just look around this (interview) room. You’re not going to get anything below 95, and guys are throwing 95 with movement. Everybody’s sinking the ball. Everybody is cutting the ball. I remember coming up my years in Philly. There were just a select few guys throwing cutters. I don’t remember guys throwing 93 mile-an-hour cutters like so many guys do now."
Veteran New York Yankees lefthander Andy Pettitte thinks that although pitchers have stronger arms these days, they’ve also matured quickly in adjusting to the Major Leagues.
"Young pitchers seem to make adjustments faster. To learn how to change speeds," he said. "(Price) is throwing a two-seam fastball this year. Last year, I never saw him throw any two-seamers.”
Angels Centre Fielder Torii Hunter added: "Oh, man. Pitching is better. Guys have more cutters and sinkers and scouting reports and everything. So the pitching’s a lot better these days. You’ve got guys like Strasburg. His stuff looks electrifying on TV. Ubaldo Jimenez is filthy. You’ve just got some really good pitchers."
Angels manager Mike Scioscia, a coach for the AL, is still reserving judgment.
"Look at our team. We think we’ve been underperforming on the offensive side and we’ve still been in the middle of the pack," he said. "So I think that’s indicative that, yeah, there is a little bit of advantage with what the pitchers are doing this season. I think sometimes this stuff is cyclical. Sometimes there are tangible reasons.”
This season, two “official” perfect games have been pitched by Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay. However, everyone knows that Armando Galarraga pitched a legitimate perfect game last month as an errant call on the 27th out cost him the perfect game. That of course has sparked further pleas for the use of instant replay.
Even the hitters are admiring what the pitchers are doing in today’s game.
"No-hitters, Two perfect games," Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "There’s a lot of young talent. It’s fun for me to go out there every day. It’s definitely not monotonous. There are a lot of guys who can do some really, really special things on the mound. It’s fun to watch . . . when you’re not hitting against them."
We’ll never really be able to pinpoint the reason why pitchers are suddenly dominating the game and why we haven’t seen as much offence. What we can do is admire what we are seeing out of the young pitchers of the game. The hitters may not enjoy the shift in power as much though. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean we’ll have to start testing these pitchers, too.
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