Yup. The OP pretty much picked the absolute peak of offensive numbers, and it makes it look like those numbers started out pretty consistently there. Here’s a link to league-wide offensive numbers throughout MLB history.
I don’t think we talked very much about changes in defensive positioning the first time around, but that could be a factor, too. And I’ve seen some baseball writers argue that hitters are becoming too passive and taking too many strikes, which could be contributing to the higher K rates.
Not intentionally, as the ESPN website stats only go back to 2000. What’s also interesting in your link is that the average ages of batters were also at all-time highs during the period, which also contributes to the PED theory.