Postgame Press: Ball(d)-face Lie?

I love baseball. I know. Shocking. Is it boring? My baseball housemates say no. My dad says no. I say no. The public, though, may disagree. With the knowledge that the average baseball fan is older than 55 and that fewer than 10 percent of United States citizens say it is their favorite sport, some say that America’s Pastime might be past its time. Different ‘fixes’ have been suggested by fans and experts, but some are saying that this season, a fix was in.

Home runs are fun. It takes a rare person to deny that. Watching a ball get smoked into the bleachers raises my heartbeat, even when the Cubs are not in the game. I remember hearing that more home runs could bring fans back to baseball. After all, it should make sense that the most exciting part of the sport happening more often would thus make the game more exciting. It makes sense to me.

However, that is not what has happened. Home runs are hit at a higher level than ever and other base hits are, in return, down. With each at-bat getting closer and closer to being a strikeout or a homer, the excitement has not been the change expected. Not only does this lead to questions about how to ‘fix’ baseball, but it bears another question: What has been the cause of the record-breaking home run year?

According to MLB researchers and the commissioner of baseball Rob Manfred, the balls have been changed. While others use the term ‘juiced’, just like steroid users, the balls have been ‘centered’ according to Manfred. With less drag on the ball from its pill and its seams, as main theories have posed, the ball sails farther. Now, besides the fact that this leads to more home runs and more strikeouts, as opposed to base hits, there is one more major issue with this story that is more important now than ever.

The MLB postseason started recently and has already had its share of excitement. Yet, it has also had its share of controversy, starting with, you guessed it, the balls. The juice, it seems, has been loosed, so balls are acting bizarrely compared to the regular season. The air resistance on the ball is much higher, and balls are falling four and a half feet shorter according to the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom I, as a Cubs fan, hate agreeing but do today. If a layperson like me can watch the game and see a ball that should be going, going, gone and ends up on the warning track, in a season in which it was the opposite all year, there are some problems.

The de-juiced baseballs can be seen as just the same as the regular season, but now with a batting disadvantage and pitching advantage instead of vice versa. That argument fails to realize that players and teams adjust their game with every pitch. It is silly to ask them to now adjust to every ball. Hopefully, the MLB can figure out ball consistency soon, or questions will continue to be asked.