(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
MLB has made a concerted effort to increase pace of play and make games shorter, with the intention of keeping younger audiences engaged and interested in their product.
They made things more exciting with the pitch clock, the shift restrictions, and the larger bases that invite more stolen base attempts.
Basically, all the things they wanted to achieve have been obtained to varying degrees.
What still hasn’t changed is the league-wide obsession with the home run.
Hitters work the whole offseason and spring training to change their swings and make them more power-oriented.
At the end of the day, home run hitters often get paid in free agency and in arbitration.
That’s what they are shooting for.
On Monday, 53 home runs were hit across the whole league, a healthy number that proves power is still the name of the game.
53 home runs yesterday!
that’s the 3rd-most on a single day before May, behind only:
4/20/19: 57
4/7/00: 57
it’s the 6th April day with at least 50 https://t.co/QfXYguHhn1
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 4, 2023
As you can see, it was almost a record on a day before May, if not for a day in 2019 and one in 2000.
In the former, a “juiced ball” that reported a record-setting home run environment was used; and the latter season was in the middle of the steroids era.
Yesterday, we saw some of the game’s most prominent sluggers go yard: Yordan Alvarez, Anthony Rizzo, Bryan Reynolds, Cody Bellinger, Ronald Acuna Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, and several others.
We even had some unheralded names hit home runs on Monday.
Now, every day in which there are 14 or 15 games will be a threat to break the record.
The post MLB Sluggers Showed Off Record Power To Start The Week appeared first on The Cold Wire.