I saw a stat on Reddit yesterday, that all pitchers combined were hitting around .150, while the Cubs, as a team, were hitting .121. Ugly.
Welcome to baseball in 2021. The National League is hitting .226 but is averaging over a homer/team/game; the average pitcher strikes out more men than Nolan Ryan. Homers and strikeouts.
According to Baseball Reference, as of this morning, for MLB as a whole:
- 1369 hits (7.8 hits/game)
- 204 home runs (1.2 HR/game)
- 1698 strikeouts (9.6 K/game)
- 643 walks (3.7 BB/game)
Overall batting average for MLB is .232. Three true outcomes, indeed. 
Yeah, those are the ones that hurt, the Nats definitely could have come back in both of those division games. Even playing massively short handed, they got one win and were definitely in every game.
That is truly galling. It’s only been a few years since strikeouts per game outpaced hits. Where will the sport be in 10 years?
Most years, if you saw stats like these, you may be tempted to blame the cold April weather for the lousy hitting. This month it’s been extraordinarily warm in much of the country, so that’s not even a consideration.
You’re certainly a knowledgeable student of the game, far more so than I. I’m curious what your proposals are and what their individual and collective rationale is. Though that might be better as a different thread. We’ve talked about a couple ideas at random here or there in passing in one thread or another, but it’d be fun to see the whole package in one place. If you’re so inclined.
Clearly the 7x2 and the extra inning runner on second are all about limiting game duration. Even if real long games are rare, stopping them completely is in the interest of the broadcasters. Heck, I expect they’d be all over a proposal to eliminate extra innings altogether and simply restore ties as a legit outcome to a game.
A boycott maybe. But, hell, I’m still watching even though I dislike:
–the DH
–the phantom intentional walk
–the 7 inning games, &
–the runner on 2nd in extras.
Despite all that, I’m still not ready to throw in the towel. Maybe that’s a testament to how great a game baseball is, if it can survive all that bullshit.
I fear that in the end, the best compromise we can get is an extra runner on 2nd after the 12th inning, which I’ve heard batted around.
I’m sure the 7 inning doubleheaders will go away by next season.
The DH in the NL has way too much momentum for us to keep it at bay for much longer.
I’m thinking baseball will offer to make permanent the 26th or even 27th man roster and DH full time in NL in exchange for the hard pitch clock and batters not leaving the box. Not sure what other concessions the owners want.
I hope the 7 inning 2bl header goes away but I get the feeling that many players like it.
I know fans don’t like the runner on 2nd in extra innings, but I’ve heard nothing about if players like it or not.
“We were at four hours going into the 10th inning,” Counsell said. “That was enough. That’s enough; it really is. That’s as simple as I can state it. We didn’t need another two hours of that game.”
I’ve never known baseball without the DH and neither has anyone under 50. It’s going to be a permanent addition to the NL. The fight is over.
I also think the 7 inning DHs are gone after this season, too much $$$ in those day night doubleheaders.
I guess the runner on 2nd is ok after the 12th inning, games that long are rare. Obviously, regular season only
Counsell is right – 4 hours is already an absurdly long time for a baseball game, especially one in which there isn’t much actual action happening. The real fix would be in getting the time of a nine-inning game back under 3 hours (and, preferably, closer to 2 1/2).
The thing is that because there are so many home runs, and still a lot of walks, scoring is still happening. We’re still a bit above 4.5 runs/game/team. Teams are not stupid; they are acting in a rational manner.
Those of us who avoid watching AL games have lived almost entirely without the DH until last year. And would happily go back to the way baseball should be played.
You’ve avoided half of MLB for years? I didn’t see as much AL ball since the Cubs/Mets/Braves were all NL during the superstation years, but I certainly watched as many AL games as I could and WGN showed the White Sox at times (I think I’m remembering correctly) and the Yankees were often featured in nationally televised games
Or “strap in.”
By happenstance I’ve always lived in NL cities. So that’s what’s on my TV. The vast majority of nationally broadcast AL games have the Yankees in them. Which team I’ve disliked since the Steinbrenner years.
The net effect pre-2020 is when I do see an AL game they’re playing by weird-to-me rules that leave a lot of the interesting strategy out of the game. IMO having a DH is like training wheels on a bike or blocking the gutters in kiddie bowling.
Deciding when to pull a pitcher if he’s 5+ innings into the game and his spot in the lineup is coming up isn’t interesting. It’s about as decided as when to go for 2 points in football is. Executing a double-switch isn’t solving the Enigma machine. The vast prevalence of relievers going 7-8-9 make that whole aspect of the game essentially moot. Yay - Madison Bumgarner hit a double. I’d much rather be watching a healthy Zac Gallen pitch right now.