By Miles Friedman
This 2019 MLB season was full of excitement, surprises, and outstanding performances. It kicked off with a historic two-game set between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland As, the first-ever MLB game played in Japan. March 28, 2019, was opening day for the rest of the teams; popular picks for favorite were the 2018 defending champs, the Boston Red Sox, as well as the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
The 2019 season was a record-setter in terms of home runs. Some even called it the year of the home run due to the record-shattering 6,776 home runs across the league, a whopping 671 more than the previous record. In addition, there were eleven incidences of a team hitting seven or more home runs in a single game. In 34 games, a team hit six or more home runs. The previous record was 18. In 114 games, teams hit five or more home runs, double the previous record of 60. Fifteen teams broke their previous single-season home run record–half the entire MLB. The Minnesota Twins led the league with 307 home runs, just edging out the Yankees who had 306. The Twins now hold the record for the most home runs ever hit by a single team in the MLB.
Some may ask why there were so many home runs hit this year. The answer differs, but many people speculate that the baseballs themselves were different this year, and therefore jumped off the bat differently. This theory was deemed the “juiced ball theory.” ‘Juiced’ comes from the term used to describe players using performance-enhancing drugs. The juiced ball theory stems from a belief that the league changed the ball to force the offense to be faster, making baseball games more exciting.
However, there has been pushback from people who believe this is changing the game too much. Still, the argument for changing the game is that players used to have a “contact approach” at the plate, but now it’s much more of an all-or-nothing approach where you either strike-out, walk, or hit a home run. The juiced ball theory has been acknowledged by the MLB to be true. The commissioner admitted that the ‘pill’ in the middle of the baseball was altered in production. As a result, the ball lessens drag when in flight, which makes it fly further, creating more home runs.
On top of a record-shifting number of home runs, there were also many individual players that made their mark on the 2019 baseball season. Some of the players that made the most noise included Pete Alonso, Cody Bellinger, Mike Trout, Christian Yelich and Ronald Acuna. Pete Alonso, of the New York Mets, had a particularly historic rookie season. He led the majors with 53 home runs. While leading the league in homers is impressive, even more impressive is that Alonso broke the single-season home run rookie record.
Cody Bellinger is the favorite to win the MVP award in the National League. He ended the year batting .305, with 47 home runs and 115 RBIs. Mike Trout, who is consistently considered the best player in the MLB right now, is the favorite to win MVP in the American League. He hit .291, with 45 home runs and 104 RBIs.
On the pitching side of the MLB, the best this season were Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Jacob Degrom, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Max Sherzer. There really is no clear cut Cy Young favorite for each league. The Cy Young award is awarded to the best pitcher in each league. Hyun-Jin Ryu led the majors in ERA (Earned Run Average) with an ERA of 2.31, and Gerrit Cole led the league in strikeouts with 326 which is 35th all-time in the major leagues. Overall, the 2019 Major League Baseball season was dominated by strikeouts and home runs. Some people think this is an exciting change for baseball while others think that the game is changing and evolving too much.