Watching World Series.

[cachukis]

Swinging at a lot of bad pitches. Are the pitchers that good? Been away since 1986.
Remember modifying swing to deal with pitch.
Looks like a lot of fence swingers.
What am I missing?

[BlueTsunami2018]

1. Yeah, pitchers are a lot better than they were.

The spin these guys put on is crazy. But you’re also right that there is a lot of swinging for the fences. No one plays small ball anymore.

[cachukis]

2. You would think managers would shake up bullpens by

getting batters to demand more throws and pepper the gaps.
The pitch count would be unsettled.
Is it the time factor that's pushing the show?

[underpants]

4. Saber metrics. They take and foul off a lot more pitches.

The idea being to get pitch counts up and get the starter out before the third go around for the hitters. You’ve got it. Games a waaaay longer.

[underpants]

3. They swing for the fences a lot more now

I mean a LOT more. It’s all about launch angle.

There’s very little moving the runner over. Almost no bunting. And stealing bases (they just got Altuve) is so rare that the whole major leagues stole less bases this year that Ricky Henderson stole in 1984.

[onenote]

7. You need to check your stats. The whole MLB stole 2487 bases this year

Rickey Henderson stole 66 bases in 1984.

I think the stat you might have been swinging for was that the major league leading team in stolen bases in 2022 was the Rangers, with 128, while in 1982, Henderson alone stole 130 bases.

Historically, stolen bases have gone in and out of favor. In the early 1950s, Dom DiMaggio led the American league in stolen bases with, believe it or not, 15.

Finally, FWIW, the number of stolen bases in 2022 was around 270 more than in 2021.

[underpants]

9. I read the Henderson stat somewhere

I should have checked it. My bad. Thank you.

[mahina]

5. Oh I'll check it. Didn't know. Been distracted I guess. Thanks.

I always root for the Phillies if the Red Sox are out.

[ITAL]

6. It's kinda crazy how no one plays small ball anymore

The Royals title in 2015 was all about small ball, taking the extra base, etc.. And 2015 wasn't THAT long ago, teams were already way into sabermetrics, etc..

Teams also don't trust their starters at all these days. Even if they're dealing, they often get pulled....sometimes super early. If a pitcher has given up zero runs, is only 5 innings deep, at 70 pitches - they still can get pulled. It's nuts.

[we can do it]

12. Guardians got to game 5 Division Series with small ball and defense.

[Initech]

8. Now that the Astros have been exposed and have to play honestly...

[303squadron]

10. We will see a swing away from the long ball starting in 2023

Predictions for total league stats: Home runs will be down in 2023. Batting averages will rise. Stolen base attempts and success will rise. Strikeouts will be down.

I'm not saying how much for any of those predictions, but it's easy to see that with the shift being outlawed and the bases being bigger that these are easy predictions. With the shift, the batter's mentality of, "If I can't get a hit through the infield I'll swing for the fences" will decrease. Not only did MLB outlaw the shift, they also mandated that both of the infielders feet must be on the dirt. No more of the shortstop playing shallow left field. More holes now in the infield to poke a ball through.

More sustained offenses and hopefully more excitement. The game has suffered from going through endless strikeouts while waiting for a home run.

[cachukis]

11. Learned a lot from this bunch, but they still swing at bad balls.