Why offense is down

Parade_Rain

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This piece is about the Red Sox, but if you get through that, the article has an interesting take on why offense is down. It may spur some discussion here on how the game could change for the better and may change some minds on what fixes need to happen to balance out the pitching vs hitting.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you’re wondering why offense is down across baseball, researcher Jon Roegele has an answer and it’s in this sentence.

The key word is “down.”

Roegele charted every pitch thrown in 2014 for the Hardball Times and determined what most hitters across the game already knew — the strike zone continues to drop like a freight elevator.

.......

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/...10/lower_strike_zone_could_shape_red_sox_plan
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Parade_Rain

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Are you going to Fanny's Burgers?
 

brett05

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Parade_Rain said:
This piece is about the Red Sox, but if you get through that, the article has an interesting take on why offense is down. It may spur some discussion here on how the game could change for the better and may change some minds on what fixes need to happen to balance out the pitching vs hitting.
Click to expand...

I'd say pitching vs hitting finally being balanced out. The zone dropped and has been squeezed on the sides. Greg Maddux made a top five pitchers of all time career by making the strike zone two inches outside the plate. So now they call it like they should. Now the zone dropped but not expanded enough. It might be inches bigger but what about the size it should be, the knees to the pits?

Raise the mound a few inches and then I think we have balance. But until then, the advantage is still tilted to the hitter as far as I see it.
 

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Raise the mound more than it is? So you want elite hitters batting .250 on the season with no pop? Nobody wants to see 1-0 baseball games unless it's a verifiable marquee matchup between aces.

Bare minimum to me is making the zone smaller up and down by raising the zone above the knees.
 

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Parade_Rain said:
Raise the mound more than it is? So you want elite hitters batting .250 on the season with no pop? Nobody wants to see 1-0 baseball games unless it's a verifiable marquee matchup between aces.

Bare minimum to me is making the zone smaller up and down by raising the zone above the knees.
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It was dropped way way too low back in the late 60's.

Call the zone from the knees to the pits/letters and from black to black. Allow a pitcher to throw on the inside part of the plate. Elite hitters will be fine. So will power hitters after the rubble of home run or nothing are factored out. Hitting 30 home runs in a season should be for one or two hitters in all of baseball for my tastes.
 

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brett05 said:
It was dropped way way too low back in the late 60's.

Call the zone from the knees to the pits/letters and from black to black. Allow a pitcher to throw on the inside part of the plate. Elite hitters will be fine. So will power hitters after the rubble of home run or nothing are factored out. Hitting 30 home runs in a season should be for one or two hitters in all of baseball for my tastes.
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The zone back then was the top of the knees. Knees must be specified. It's too ambiguous. "Allow pitchers to throw on the inside part of the plate"? They already have that. Perhaps you missed why Stanton missed the last part of the season. The mound should be completely eliminated and the zone should move above the knees.
 

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Parade_Rain said:
The zone back then was the top of the knees. Knees must be specified. It's too ambiguous. "Allow pitchers to throw on the inside part of the plate"? They already have that. Perhaps you missed why Stanton missed the last part of the season. The mound should be completely eliminated and the zone should move above the knees.
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Not sure if srs...
 

Parade_Rain

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LOL. You are in denial as to what makes the game watchable. It's called runs and lots of action. In order to do that, the game needs more offense, not less.
 

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The art of the productive out has been buried by the steroid era and sabermetrics.
 

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I actually like 1-0 games more than 10-11 games. Those games place value on defense. In a 10-11 type game individual mistakes are lessened. If you're 0-0 at say the 7th inning every at bat becomes interesting to me because you never know what at bat will change the game. Also, I could be wrong but with offense up it often seems like you get completely unbalanced games where a teams cores 5-10 runs and the other team is just out of it.
 

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Parade_Rain said:
LOL. You are in denial as to what makes the game watchable. It's called runs and lots of action. In order to do that, the game needs more offense, not less.
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I don't think you appreciate baseball to its fullest. An 89 pitch complete game Greg Maddux type game in 1:55 is way better than any slugfest.
 

Parade_Rain

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brett05 said:
Yes that is true, the second part is opinion. Never said otherwise. Point?
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Baseball gained fans when HR/offense was king. If you want the game to continue to be one of the Big 3, then something needs to give and that "give" isn't aiding the pitchers.
 

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brett05 said:
I don't think you appreciate baseball to its fullest. An 89 pitch complete game Greg Maddux type game in 1:55 is way better than any slugfest.
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Perhaps you can't read very well. Post #5 mentions 1-0 games against aces...that is unless you don't consider Maddux to be an ace.
 

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Parade_Rain said:
Perhaps you can't read very well. Post #5 mentions 1-0 games against aces...that is unless you don't consider Maddux to be an ace.
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I read post five. In truth it matters not who tosses the gem. It can be Studs, Marginals, or Duds.
 

brett05

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Parade_Rain said:
Baseball gained fans when HR/offense was king. If you want the game to continue to be one of the Big 3, then something needs to give and that "give" isn't aiding the pitchers.
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Says who? Baseball is at an all time high in revenue. Every sport wants more fans but there are limits they do to prevent it from changing the game. Fair weather fans are just that, but you don't upset your base. With no base, the whole thing collapses.

MLB is in no threat of losing it's standing as America's Past Time IMO.
 
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