Every Monday Baseball Musings compare offense of the current season to previous season through the same number of full weeks. Through 15 full weeks, the 2025 season produced 8.75 runs per game compared to 8.78 runs per game in 2024. This slight edge for 2024 persisted for weeks now. What also persisted is that most types of offense are up. Home runs (2.25 to 2.19), walks (6.38 to 6.16), other hits (14.26 to 14.15) are all up, strikeouts are down (16.51 to 16.72), yet games produce fewer runs.

The reason for the higher scoring last year seems to be situational. Last season, teams hit .255/.332/.417 with men in scoring position, much higher than the overall average of .243/.312/.397 (though July 14). This season, the RISP numbers are .252/.330/.404 with an overall average of .245/.315/.400. It’s simply fewer hits with runners in scoring position.

The past week produce 9.01 runs per game. Strikeouts were way down to 16.1 per game. It was a good week for homers, but not so much for other hits and walks. A theme of this season continues to be defensive success without a ton of Ks.