Baseball is a hard sport. It’s the only sport, or the only thing period, that a 30% success rate will put you in the hall of fame. What’s even harder is hitting that ball 300-400 feet in the air. But as hard as this game is, there was a collective group of guys that made it seem a bit easier in 2019.
2019 was full of records being shattered with the home run ball. In case you missed it or haven't heard what all happened, let me give you a quick list
6,776 total home runs (671 more than the previous record set in 2017)
307 home runs by 1 team ( breaks the 2018 Yankees record of 267)
2 teams hit 300 plus home runs
4 teams beat the Yankees 2018 record
24 teams with 200 home runs and 7 of those hit 250 or more
Most home runs in a month league-wide and by a team
Most players with double-digit home run totals
Most home runs in a single game
Most multi-home run games
And a Pete Alonso broke the rookie home run record
This baseball season felt more like the late 90s and early 2000s when guys like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire (you know, the “juicy boys”) crushing home runs in that race for the most home runs in a season and career.
But the offensive record books weren't the only thing getting changed this year. We also saw a team give up more home runs than any other team in history mixed in with the most combined total strikeouts in MLB than any other year ( another trend on the rise).
See if you can’t tell, Major League Baseball is changing right before our eyes. As baseball becomes more analytical, baseball is forced to make changes to the game itself to keep it from being its own demise. As the overdramatic shifts continue to take away hits and run away from teams, the new balls that they play with continues to lend itself to more homer runs to beat the shift. So once again baseball has adjusted by using more pitchers per game and giving hitters different looks at each at-bat which has increased the number of strikeouts per game as well.
I don't know if these changes are good or bad for baseball. I don't know how much more can be done to keep games from turning into mini home run derby competitions and more of a pure baseball game. Here’s what I do know though, these trends are only getting steeper and don’t seem to be getting back to normal anytime soon.
