2019 MLB Season: Is MLB beefing up the baseballs?
The 2019 MLB season has brought upon an onslaught of home runs leaving many wondering if the balls are juiced. Well, are they? Let’s find out.
So juiced baseballs…is this a conspiracy? Or is this just the reality of the game during the 2019 MLB season? That is the question at hand…Baseball players have commented on it, fans are speculating and well…maybe both have a point.
Now..before you tell someone to take the tin foil antenna hats off and take down their “the truth is out there” posters, look at a few points to raise some of your eyebrows. Where, you say? Well right here in this article of course.
Player’s Observation
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Going back a month ago, Justin Verlander vehemently blamed MLB for juiced baseballs. ESPN’s Jeff Passan quoted Verlander saying,
"“It’s a f—ing joke,” said Verlander. Major League Baseball’s turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings, and you’ve got Manfred up here saying it might be the way they center the pill. They own the f—ing company. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company and the product changed dramatically, it’s not a guess as to what happened. We all know what happened. Manfred the first time he came in, what’d he say? He said we want more offense. All of a sudden he comes in, the balls are juiced? It’s not coincidence. We’re not idiots.”"
Don’t be mistaken that Verlander is the only voice crying out in the baseball wilderness. In 2017, there were players commenting on the abnormal flyouts. David Price said per USA Today, “One hundred percent”.
Fan’s Observation
We’ve all seen this before from MLB. In the 90s it was the players who produced the longball (ALOT). So much so that numbers were inflated up until the early 2000s ( 71 home runs?) That is until Jose Conseco’s book changed the landscape.
So flash forward some 15 years later and now you see a whole new chin rubbing moment. The ball themselves are now the reason for the flyouts. The frontline of the long ball can attest that there are some changes happening in the game.
In a way, you can’t be shocked. MLB is a business and the dead-ball era is almost over 110 years old. Offense sells tickets so is it much of a coincidence fans love home runs and then all of a sudden there is an increase?
The Facts
Fans, players, journalist and radio talent can talk about this all day, but the facts lie in the stats.
In 2017, just a little over 2 years ago, USA Today discovered that there were 2,922 home runs before entering into the heat of summer ball of 2017. During the steroid ball era, there were 5,693 home runs which were just 2.34 a game.
Now flash forward to the 2019 MLB season and now the commissioner is brought into what has become potentially over-inflated home run numbers. Just today alone, the Colorado Rockies’ pitchers enter into this weekend giving up 105 home runs at Coors Field during the 2019 MLB season.
In a CBS sports article dating from June of this year, Rob Manfred has gone on record acknowledging that Rawlings hasn’t changed the process in any meaningful way.
He did point out that scientist told him in a 2018 report that the centering of the pill in the baseball was something that could be a “drag issue”. Nevertheless, the baseballs are leaving at a record level.
Per CBSsports, quoting Baseball-Reference, about 136 home runs are hit per game with the current record being 126.
Conclusion
So if you’ve gotten this far in the article you have asked whether you believe this to be true? or just a heap full of illusions, smoke, and mirrors.
That will be up to you solely as a decision to make.
dark. Next. Red Sox flickering playoff hopes take another hit
However, you can’t ignore the stats provided by statisticians, players on the mound and the number of happy people going home with 7 baseballs in upper decks or lower reserves from April to September. It’s one thing to walk away from this is the fact that offense will bring fans in the seats and nothing will do that more than a 472′ home run.