I say juice the baseball and juice the pitchers.
The MLB is always three steps behind on these issues. How long have they known about pitchers using various substances to improve their grip? It's been a universally known secret that just about every pitcher uses something to this effect. Rather then set rules for what is and what isn't acceptable, they just let it slide. But now that pitchers are dominating and it's making MLB look bad, they're putting the onus on players even though MLB has been allowing them to use these substances with no repercussions for decades. It's basically the same thing that happened with steroids, just look the other way until the issue comes to a head, and then blame the players.
Nothing is going to help the offense very much unless the hitters get smarter. Ted Williams used to talk about how stupid pitchers were. Today , it is the hitters who are stupid. You can watch a guy chase the same slider in the dirt three times in the same at bat. Then the next guy does likewise. Try swinging at strikes , not balls in the dirt. With two strikes, shorten your swing and try to put the ball in play. Hit to all fields. Learn how to bunt. These are not revelations. They are basics.
Old school is good school.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Exactly. Per Fangraphs, the average fastball is 94.3mph this year, which converts to 138 feet/second. So to travel 55 feet (an estimate from release point to plate) takes less than 0.4 seconds. Not a lot of time to decide to swing. Especially since you have to decide long before it gets to the plate, so maybe 0.2 seconds?
And that’s for an average fastball...
Pitchers and hitters have forever been looking for ways to gain an advantage. The bigger question is : Are managers , coaches and organizations encouraging this ? Maybe even providing the material and instructions? That could be where the investigation leads.
Old school is good school.