MLB is a joke sometimes...

[Inside Pitch]

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/54306/moonshot-the-rocket-ball-has-disappeared-in-october/

I really hope they stop screwing around with the ball.   They clearly know the regular season balls were making a mockery of the game so once the postseason comes around they switch them...    Basically nullifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of playoff teams.

Manfred is a twat.

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/54306/moonshot-the-rocket-ball-has-disappeared-in-october/

I really hope they stop screwing around with the ball.   They clearly know the regular season balls were making a mockery of the game so once the postseason comes around they switch them...    Basically nullifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of playoff teams.

Manfred is a twat.

That is pretty ridiculous. And it has to frustrate the hell out of the players.

Its like showing up for a football game, and they make the field 120 yards.

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

That is pretty ridiculous. And it has to frustrate the hell out of the players.

Its like showing up for a football game, and they make the field 120 yards.

The study is showing the drag on the balls is the highest they have seen since 2016...   So, it's a legit attempt to alter the ball and not some oopsies -- what happened dealio.

Imagine being a GM and trying to evaluate performance when building your team only to have the numbers mean nothing because "ball changed".

[Docwaukee]

knowing which ball they're going to use next year and going forward could be impactful on the free agent market and who to target.  

[jordan]

All I know is that Howie still hit it out. That’s all that matters. 

[Inside Pitch]

Read this tweet string -- it's a joke.

[Biergott]

Didn't the same thing happen a couple years back?  Something changed with the threads, so pitchers with curves and sliders weren't getting the bite they did all season long?  I seem to remember it messing with Darvish badly in particular.

If you make a change, you have to do it in the offseason.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Kershaws balls definitely change in october.....

Edited October 10, 2019 by ten ocho recon scout

[Inside Pitch]

19 minutes ago, jordan said:

All I know is that Howie still hit it out. That’s all that matters. 

I loved that HR, and it was great to see guys like Weaver, Hunter, etc come out in support of Howie the way they did.

[T.G.]

That's it. I'm done with baseball, forever.

[T.G.]

How many days until pitchers and catchers report?

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, True Grich said:

That's it. I'm done with baseball, forever.

I know you're kidding but, it really does put me off.   There is one thing in MLB that's supposed to be universal and that's the baseball, the parks are different, players all have custom gloves, hitters get their bats made to their specifications but the baseball is supposed to be the one constant.  When they start playing around with it to try to influence certain results they are risking altering the outcomes of games.   It's just cheap.

I've been wanting them to revert to the old ball, but seeing them do it in the postseason is sleazy.

[T.G.]

Maybe this batch of balls came from China?

[Tank]

28 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Read this tweet string -- it's a joke.

just curious, but how do they measure something like this? we're seeing some pretty dang elite pitchers out there, so it's natural that hitters aren't going to do as well as when they face the cahills and harveys of the MLB. plus you add in playoff pressure on top of that and elimination games, and stats are going to be affected.

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, Tank said:

just curious, but how do they measure something like this? we're seeing some pretty dang elite pitchers out there, so it's natural that hitters aren't going to do as well as when they face the cahills and harveys of the MLB. plus you add in playoff pressure on top of that and elimination games, and stats are going to be affected.

Statcast...  So they are using MLBs own data against them..    Also, they are measuring the drag on balls used by those pitchers to the balls used by those same pitchers in the regular season.   The Baseball prospectus Article hits on multiple data-points that all scream the same thing.

[Inside Pitch]

They are also normalizing for weather -- and here's the deal, this October has been warmer than most of the season.  So, that's another pretty significant factor.

[Tank]

thanks. i didn't realize there were people who did as much as research on this as @ettin allegedly does for his primer series.

[kevinb]

MLB is pretty crazy. I am surprised the players union allows this shit to happen. 

[Pancake Bear]

In case anyone hasn’t seen MLB’s response:

It’s like they think no one can figure out the difference. The ball drag doesn’t change that drastically by accident. Did they imagine no one would look at the statcast data? Geez, their disingenuousness is something. 

[Duren, Duren]

If they really want to reduce home runs (yeah...sure...) it would be simple.

Stop giving the pitcher a new baseball almost every at bat! Usually multiple times per hitter. Every damned time a ball touches the ground, or even is just very low or fouled off, they toss it and throw out a new ball.

Traditionally, the art of pitching was sly and crafty. Small scuff marks were exploited to do tricks with the ball. Pitchers spent lots of time rubbing up the ball and looking for imperfections to use their nails on. Not even bringing up the 'foreign substance' tricks. 

Pitchers today get a new ball constantly, even though often it"s at their own request or from their catcher. They haven't been schooled in the art of deception.

Doctoring bats (George  Brett anyone?) has been going on forever. Same with the balls. Even gloves. Let it go both ways unless something ridiculous crossed a line (Gaylord Perry?). Each batter and pitcher should be able to maximize the tools of their trade.

And raise the mound if you want to really give the pitcher more of a chance.

 

[tdawg87]

I'm referring to this as "Ballgate" and none of you are going to stop me.

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Kershaws balls definitely change in october.....

Dodger blue balls.

[UndertheHalo]

This is sort of fu*cked

[ettin]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

thanks. i didn't realize there were people who did as much as research on this as @ettin allegedly does for his primer series.

Who do you think I have proofread the Primer Series?

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Sean-Regan said:

In case anyone hasn’t seen MLB’s response:

It’s like they think no one can figure out the difference. The ball drag doesn’t change that drastically by accident. Did they imagine no one would look at the statcast data? Geez, their disingenuousness is something. 

This is what ticks me off....  They try to pretend it's just random...   It's just not based in truth.