Major League Baseball has been one of the most sought after sports for decades now, but everything has its flaws, including baseball. MLB this past season has been accused of juicing baseballs causing players to hit more homeruns at a higher rate and pace.

Fans, players, and analysts took quick notice of this, calling the MLB out for this. Though MLB didn’t make a clear response to this, they may have made a change in silence. The dead baseballs.

This change in the MLB broke the league from players such as Pete Alonso and Chris Bassitt calling out league officials stating the new ball is a safety issue due to the thinning of the laces making the ball harder to control. Even players at-bat such as Ian Happ, are noticing the ball dying off the bat.

This may not seem like an issue, but home runs are a big part of what makes MLB fun to watch. WMS student Michael Gurovich even stated, “Watching MLB games is getting less and less entertaining as time goes.” Though this is not all fans this is a majority of fans and viewers.

Pete Alonso and Chris Bassitt, two players of the New York Mets aren’t so worried about the hitting aspect of the baseballs, but the safety of the players. 

New York Mets players were hit 19 times in 20 games leading the league in hit by pitches, 1 of them hitting player Pete Alsono in the face. Prior to when the sticky substance talk was in the media, Alsono was for it saying how it’s better for hitters, pitchers have more control of their pitches, which means more pitches to hit.

Though fans and players are letting Rob Manfred and the head of the MLB know this is an issue, people such as WMS student Michael Gurovich think there won’t be a change until next season.

To many fans, watching the MLB is at an all time high, like for student Billy Mansfield, but many fans would disagree. With MLB baseballs producing more fly outs and ground outs people are losing interest in the game. What baseball fans do like is home runs, and home runs is what brings excitement to the game, but with the decrease in action, viewers are dropping like flies.

With the baseball’s changes overtime MLB viewership has gone down 12% over the last 3 years. WMS teacher Mr. Adase couldn’t have said it better, “This is a very very clear issue that can be solved very easily, but league officials are making this a bigger deal then it has to be”.

Though homeruns are fun and are a big part of baseball this is not the only thing affected by the baseballs. Pitchers in the MLB have seen a drastic boost in all stats, especially the homerun to fly ball rate. 

Average pitchers from last year’s season are becoming all stars in the making, which fans are definitely catching on to. WMS student Billy Mansfield made a great point in this argument, “A quote on quote ‘dead ball’ does not help you strike people out.” Which is a great argument, but there are stats to back up this argument from both standpoints.

Pitchers have come out saying the laces being thinner makes it harder to grip the ball, so walks are hurting them. Pitchers claim the balls have felt weird since the start of Spring Training and their assumption was right.

The MLB needs to speak out and make a change to this very obvious issue that’s affecting the game from a fan and player point of view.