Two days ago, an article was published on FiveThirtyEight that detailed new evidence of MLB baseballs being altered to increase the number of home runs hit. After the recent surge in home runs, many fans had begun questioning if it was a result of steroids, the balls being juiced, or both. I’m here to tell you that it is and should continue to be both.
The first blog I published was an op-ed on why the MLB should bring back the Steroid Era in order to bolster the popularity of the game. Now we’re learning that there’s a strong chance that the baseballs have been juiced? That’s fantastic; I couldn’t be more for it. Although Rob Manfred has vehemently denied juicing the baseballs and appears to be avidly against it, he was conversely open to the alteration of the baseball back in 2015.
Calling a baseball “juiced” basically refers to its “coefficient of restitution, or COR — basically, its bounciness. The higher the COR, the faster and farther the ball travels after it’s hit by a bat.” (Lindbergh, The Ringer)
FiveThirtyEight’s testing showed differences between the baseballs used before and after the 2015 MLB All-Star Game:
“The testing revealed significant differences in balls used after the 2015 All-Star break in each of the components that could affect the flight of the ball, in the directions we would have expected based on the massive hike in home run rate… the newer balls have higher CORs and lower circumferences and seam heights, which would be estimated to add an average of 7.1 feet to their distance.” (Lindbergh, The Ringer)
Not only are changes being made to the cores of baseballs to make them less dense, but it also seems that the MLB has modified the exterior of the baseball, minimizing air resistance by lowering the seams, using a slightly smaller circumference, and creating a slicker surface to decrease air drag.
These changes to the composition of a baseball supposedly would add an average of 12.1 feet to the ball’s flight according to The Ringer and FiveThirtyEight––the difference between a warning track fly-out and dinger into the bullpen.
These differences seemed to greatly affect the gameplay last season; the 6,105 home runs hit last year shattered the previous record of 5693 home runs hit in 2000––peak Steroid Era.
It’s crazy to think that even when the majority of the league’s best hitters were using steroids, they still couldn’t hit as many home runs as last season. Maybe this means that the MLB is secretly letting players juice again while also quietly corking the balls.
Some people illogically think that this recent surge in home runs is somehow bad for baseball simply because the MLB is choosing to give batters an artificial advantage. People use the same logic to say that the integrity of the game would be ruined if we allow these things to keep happening. Let me tell you something: the integrity of the game is in much more danger if articles like this one keep leaking, exposing the MLB for keeping things secret.
The fans aren’t the only ones who will be mad at the league for lying to everyone––Justin Verlander went to Twitter to express his disappointment in the league:
It seems like Justin Verlander has been pretty woke on this for awhile, which makes me think that there’s been an ongoing dialogue within team clubhouses about juiced baseballs. What’s important is that Verlander said he doesn’t mind the juiced baseballs––he’s playing with the same deficit as every other MLB pitcher (and his market value is determined in comparison to other pitchers). His major problem is that he “[doesn’t] like being lied to.”
The MLB needs to be more transparent; it looks like Rob Manfred is caught in a two-year-long lie that’s ruffling some feathers around the league. It’s possible the MLBPA files a grievance against the league, but I think it’d be wise to leave this one be. The spike in home runs will certainly continue to fortify viewership, because everyone knows––even Justin Verlander––that chicks dig the long ball.
(Images via FiveThirtyEight, The Ringer, and JustinVerlander/Twitter)
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