MLB has a bad baseball problem that's only getting worse

[T.G.]

From Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2018/06/20/mlb-bad-baseball-attendance-strikeouts/718162002/

Excerpt:

The National League, which is expected to adopt the DH within the next five years, has only four teams with more hits than strikeouts.

Yet instead of these offensive woes dragging teams down like they’re the ’62 Mets, they’re hardly a detriment.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have the lowest batting average (.227) in all of baseball, with 135 more strikeouts than hits, and they’re in first place in the NL West.

The Milwaukee Brewers have been shut out a major-league-leading 10 times, produced a paltry .316 on-base percentage, have grounded into more double plays than any team in the NL and they’re in first place in the NL Central.

The Cleveland Indians are the only team in their division, the American League Central, with a winning record, a division so putrid that it has been outscored by a cumulative 230 runs.

A staggering 41 position players who appeared in Tuesday night’s games were batting .200 or below.

 

Read more at the link above... it gets worse...

 

It really paints a horrible picture of what's happening in MLB right now...

 

More...

Meanwhile, scoreboards display an academic decathlon's worth of advanced statistics, almost drowning out the fact that the team that scores the most runs actually wins the game.

“The two biggest stats to me are runs scored and RBI,’’ says two-time MVP Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, the game’s greatest player in the midst of his finest season. “I mean, that’s how you win games right, scoring the most runs?’’

In theory, yes. But why ponder actual outcomes when you can obsess over expected ones?

We’re having our heads filled with so many exit velocities, spin rates, launch angles and catch probabilities, it’s as if scoring the most runs in a game is considered as antiquated as the eight-track.

[Stradling]

At some point the new money ball will be to get players that don’t strike out.  Imagine this team with all the runners we have had on third with less than two outs, only to strand them because of one or two strike outs.  You just need the right kind of outs to score a run or two more a week.  

The game is long and getting more boring because of the amount of strike outs and walks.  While driving to Havasu last week I listened to my first Effectively Wild podcast.  They were discussing this and one of their suggestions was moving the mound back to 63-65 feet encourage offense and limit strike outs.  

[Second Base]

Agreed.

[Second Base]

I'd lower the mound, institute a pitch clock and institute an electronic strike zone and restructure the divisions.

[Angelsfan1984]

Its idiotic but I always thought it would be funny to see the DH allowed to be a steroid monster who gets to use a metal bat.

[Stradling]

Just now, Scotty@AW said:

I'd lower the mound, institute a pitch clock and institute an electronic strike zone and restructure the divisions.

They were saying that lowering the mound would change mechanics while moving it back a few feet wouldn’t.  I don’t know how it works, but if that is true, I am more prone to doing that then lowering the mound again.

[Stradling]

Just now, Angelsfan1984 said:

Its idiotic but I always thought it would be funny to see the DH allowed to be a steroid monster who gets to use a metal bat.

Are you sure you played the game, haha.  This is something that someone that used to watch those MTV basketball games would come up with.  

[Ohtaniland]

Tough sh*t. If we were in the NL we would still be trailing in the wild card chase.

[Angelsfan1984]

1 minute ago, Scotty@AW said:

I'd lower the mound, institute a pitch clock and institute an electronic strike zone and restructure the divisions.

I think the electronic strike zone just makes too much sense at this point to prolong not using it. Let the umpires stick around for safe/out calls. Camera technology is good enough to allow for a senor to go off to indicate ball or strike on the field as well as potentially check swings.

[Angelsfan1984]

1 minute ago, The Boogie Man said:

They were saying that lowering the mound would change mechanics while moving it back a few feet wouldn’t.  I don’t know how it works, but if that is true, I am more prone to doing that then lowering the mound again.

You will have more arm issues imo if you lower the mound. Less push off means you're having to make up velocity through your arm strength. Pushing the mound back would be interesting idea I just don't know if it would actually benefit hitters. You are going to get less than a fraction of a second more to see the pitch.

[Angelsfan1984]

2 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

Are you sure you played the game, haha.  This is something that someone that used to watch those MTV basketball games would come up with.  

You're telling me that if you got to watch frank Thomas or McGwire come up with a metal bat you wouldn't be interested?

[Second Base]

10 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

They were saying that lowering the mound would change mechanics while moving it back a few feet wouldn’t.  I don’t know how it works, but if that is true, I am more prone to doing that then lowering the mound again.

With the amount of injuries occurring, changing mechanics is probably a good thing.

[Stradling]

8 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

You're telling me that if you got to watch frank Thomas or McGwire come up with a metal bat you wouldn't be interested?

Of course I would. 

[T.G.]

The fundamentals seem to have disappeared. Players can't bunt... they can't go the other way to beat the shift.  They don't know how to advance the runner or get a guy in from 3B with less than 2 outs.  They strike out way too much.  The Joey Gallos of the world are becoming the norm.  There is a boat load of every day players flirting with the mendoza line.

All of this goes to say that what Mike Trout is doing is even more amazing.

[Angelsfan1984]

6 minutes ago, True Grich said:

The fundamentals seem to have disappeared. Players can't bunt... they can't go the other way to beat the shift.  They don't know how to advance the runner or get a guy in from 3B with less than 2 outs.  They strike out way too much.  The Joey Gallos of the world are becoming the norm.  There is a boat load of every day players flirting with the mendoza line.

All of this goes to say that what Mike Trout is doing is even more amazing.

I couldn't agree more. It's actually quite gross to watch. Everyone is enamored with the homerun but the rest of the game is struggling. The teams that have solid all around games are the ones consistently in the playoffs.

[Blarg]

51 minutes ago, True Grich said:

"The two biggest stats to me are runs scored and RBI,’’ says two-time MVP Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, the game’s greatest player in the midst of his finest season. “I mean, that’s how you win games right, scoring the most runs?’’

I'm about to tear up. 

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, artesmustache said:

the game is slipping. it's becoming stale. too many k's, less action, taking away hard slides, no blocking the plate, constant pitching changes, fewer "characters" in the game, no good brawls, fake manufactured rivalries, starting playoff games so damn late on east coast kids can't watch, season so long the most important games are played in cold weather. i'm bitter. 

 

Yea, because some of those things have been around awhile and MLB has little to no control over some of the others.  They didn’t take away hard slides, they took away dirty slides.  They didn’t take away blocking the plate, they took away blocking the plate without the ball.  They can’t control the pitching changes without changing the rules.  They didn’t take away “good brawls” the players did.  They didn’t take away “good characters”.  Hell my guess is it is probably about 50/50 on whether the fans like showboating after a home run.  If I was in charge of baseball I would be manufacturing lots of rivalries.  

[T.G.]

Pitchers can't throw inside any more.  Heaven forbid they hit a guy.  Today's game wouldn't tolerate guys like Nolan Ryan or Don Drysdale. 

Instant replay has robbed us of the old fashioned manager vs. umpire arguments.  Now some fans want an electronic strike zone?

It's like all the personality is gone from baseball. 

[Blarg]

2 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Today's game wouldn't tolerate guys like Nolan Ryan or Don Drysdale. 

The league didn't tolerate Drysdale. 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Blarg said:

The league didn't tolerate Drysdale. 

What do you mean by this Blarg?  He was before my time.  

[Dick B Back]

10 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Pitchers can't throw inside any more.  Heaven forbid they hit a guy.  Today's game wouldn't tolerate guys like Nolan Ryan or Don Drysdale. 

Instant replay has robbed us of the old fashioned manager vs. umpire arguments.  Now some fans want an electronic strike zone?

It's like all the personality is gone from baseball. 

Bob Gibson was another prime example. Those guys owned the plate and had no problem reminding hitters when they needed to.

[Inside Pitch]

48 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I'd lower the mound, institute a pitch clock and institute an electronic strike zone and restructure the divisions.

If they lower the mound you'll see another spike in injuries as more and more pitchers start trying to torque their arms to create downforce.

[jordan]

The Angels are the only hope to cause suspense in the AL.  Everyone (across baseball) should therefore be pulling for them. 

[Ohtaniland]

Baseball games are way too expensive for the average family man. Every time I read that we need to pay Mike Trout 10 years $400M I cringe. 

I used to attend tons of games but not anymore. Pujols and Hamilton really changed the way I follow baseball. I saved my season ticket money to travel to other ballparks every season. Last season was Boston and New York. This season Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

[Pujols4MVP]

1 hour ago, Scotty@AW said:

I'd lower the mound, institute a pitch clock and institute an electronic strike zone and restructure the divisions.

I like the idea of a pitch clock the most, it would not only speed the game up but lead to a few more mistake pitches thus increasing runs scored & speed of the game.

How would the pitch clock work ? If player goes over the limit the batter is awarded a ball in the current strike/ball count ? or if he goes over the limit twice in a inning the current batter is given a walk ?