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Chip and Cern Show


Oct 4, 2018

Alternate title: Goose Gossage is an Ass Part 2.  Based on a Bleacher Report article around the “greats of the game” commenting on baseball new “all or nothing” type of play. More strikeouts than hits in this year’s season for the first time ever. These interesting stats, Chip and Cern’s thoughts and more on this episode of the Chip and Cern Show.
 
From Bleacher Report:
 
Hall of Famers are not the only ones voicing their displeasure with an all-or-nothing game in which:
 
• The ball is not put in play in roughly a third of all plate appearances, 31.6 percent of which end in a strikeout, walk or hit batter.
• The .248 MLB batting average is the lowest since 1972, the season before the American League instituted the designated hitter, when it was .244.
• There were more strikeouts than hits in a month for the first timein MLB history in April and, through early August, MLB had accumulated more strikeouts than hits overall. The race is on for whether it will happen in a full season for the first time.
• Through Saturday, the combined rate of strikeouts, walks and home runs across the game was 33.6 percent. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since strikeouts were first recorded in both leagues in 1913, there have been only six seasons in which strikeouts, walks and home runs have accounted for at least 30 percent of all plate appearances, and all of them have occurred since 2012.
 
Defensive chances over the past two years have declined to the fewest in history—36.7 per game this year and last year, the first time that figure's ever dipped below 37.0. While we arguably have some of the greatest athletes ever on the field today—Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson has little over the Colorado Rockies' Nolan Arenado and Oakland Athletics' Matt Chapman, just as one example—they're not on display as often as they could be.
• Strategies like the hit-and-run and stolen base attempt (at their lowest per-game average since 1964, according to Elias) have become endangered species.
• Rules changes have eliminated the takeout slide at second base and the collision with the catcher at home plate.
• Emotion and energy is being drained from the game one replay and administrative move at a time (see above re: takeout slides and home plate collisions). Games are averaging about three hours in length and replays almost one-and-a-half minutes per review, according to Maury Brown in a story written for Forbes.comin April.
 
Baseball has changed a ton in the last 10 years. Do you think it is for the better or worse? Let us know on Twitter at @chipandcernshow. Speaking of plugs, pick up your Chip and Cern Show swag (hats, shirts, and stickers) at www.chipandcernshow.com/shop.
 
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