During Jared Porter’s Q & A session yesterday at the Saber Seminar, I asked if they had identified a reason that offense was down this season. Jared hadn’t seen anything, and Tom Tippett stood up and said he had looked into it and couldn’t find a reason. He did say that teams were making more of an effort to put better defensive players on the field, and that could have a double effect. Better defensive players might mean sacrificing offense, which drives runs down on that side of the equation, but they also prevent runs on the other side of the equation. He just has not seen data that indicate that’s the cause.
Weather I am sure has a lot to do with it- It has been cooler(I think) in the NE,, lots of rain so less BP, cool weather is better for pitchers- air is more dense, ball does not carry as far in dense air, breaking ball is better-I have often wondered what the weather was like in 68– I seem to remember lots of rain at my Grandfathers house that year, but I was going on 11.