Still, something looked wrong.
It was the Jumbotron. It showed Judge's batting average at .248, surely a mistake, right?
No mistake. Back on May 31, when Judge went down with a fractured rib, he was hitting a meager .248, worst of his career. Over his last 15 games, when he was said to be playing in pain, his BA fell from an early season high of .273.
Today, a .273 average would put Judge in in the AL Top Ten. But in May, at .248, he was having a nightmare season, 83 points below last year.
In 2025, Judge hit .331 - 20 points above runner-up Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays. Five AL batters finished above .300. In the NL only Trea Turner of Philadelphia made the cut, at .304.
WTF? Where have all the Pete Roses gone? If you're a geezer like me, you might recall 1968, a year of massive political unrest, when Carl Yastrzemski won the batting title at .301, the only AL hitter over .300. Averages were so low that, over the winter, the lords of the game voted to lower the pitcher's mound, a change that endures to this day.
So, we've been here before. Still, it's worth asking:
MLB, WTF?
There are multiple answers to this existential question. 1) Today's hitters swing for the fences. 2) The days of hitting guru Charlie Lau, master of the slap single, are long gone. 3) Frankly, nobody gives a shit about BA anymore. It's OPS, or WAR that matters. The only time you hear about BA is when somebody like Judge, or Yordan Alvarez of Houston, challenges for the Triple Crown.
But but BUT... one thing has changed in 2026. Today, a pitch can be challenged and recalled by almighty A.I. scanners, baseball's version of Flock traffic cameras. If they show a curveball with one micrometer touching the far corner, it's a strike.
I believe MLB's new pitch challenge system has expanded the strike zone to the point where hitters are cowed by strikes that used to be balls.
Pitching was always the art of optical illusions. Whitey Ford fooled not just the hitter, but the ump. Today's challenges - a rousing success to most critics - have eliminated many ball/strike rhubarbs and even kept Aaron Boone in games. But WTF happened to the hitters?
Well, they've been adjusted out of the game.
What if baseball, instead of requiring one iota of the ball to touch the zone, required the entire ball inside the zone? How many extra HRs would it bring? How high would batting averages spike? It would not be a minor tweak. It would be a remodel, and it could happen through some strokes on a keyboard.
Such adjustments are in the hands of the Commissioner and his merry band of billionaires. They are locked in on one mission: To make more money.
In that regard, I wonder what the strike zone will look like next year (if there is a season.) From now on, there should be a new name for the batter's box. It's Pandora's Box.
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"Whitey Ford fooled not just the hitter, but the ump."
True. Glavine and Maddux, among other greats, made careers out of it too. Paint the black, then just off the black, then a tad more off the black. By the 5th more than a few umps were calling strikes 6 inches off the plate and/or most hitters were bouncing harmless grounders to the weak side.
The best hitters fouled those pitches off, though, and made the pitcher come back to him, all the while muttering to the ump that the pitches weren't strikes, that the ump was being played for a fool, etc. It was wonderful.
The complex, and fascinating, human inteaction/communication among pitcher, catcher, hitter and umpire used to be the soul of baseball. No longer.
Kay actually made a good point last night. It's rare for him. He stated that when NY looks at a replay, it should do so not knowing (if possible), how the umpire ruled because seldom is a close play overturned. Yes, frequently clear cut discrepensies are changed, but not so much close calls where evidence contradicts the call made on the field.
Fascinating point about the challenge system. I’ll have to ruminate further om that.
Meanwhile, an underwhelming victory against one of the worst teams in baseball. Double digit strikeouts again. Jones, for reasons I can’t fathom, is a different hitter at home than away. Judge’s timing is off, to be expected. But Schlittler was dominant again, Bedard reliable again. Still, I can’t but wonder how these hitters will fare against the superior pitching in the playoffs…
"Such adjustments are in the hands of the Commissioner and his merry band of billionaires"
This means only one thing: we are totally fucked.
We have finally found our way back to the 19th century when a handful of men controlled nearly everything and left the rest of us scrambling for crumbs. Except now it's happening globally instead of locally.
I rarely watch baseball anymore owing to the fact that it has become a sanitized version of a game I used to love, and yet, I come here every morning to start my day with a few shits and giggles.
Long may you all rule! The revolution will be televised but first, a few messages from our sponsors.
And as long as I'm on the subject of shits and giggles, why are the Colorado Rockies allowed to exist?
Not too well in my opinion, Last night's Rockies starter had an ERA of 6.77 and they didn't fare too well. Just like against Walker Buehler a few days ago. And just like almost every other piss-poor hurler they face.
Actually, I think the strike zone automate challenges are working well. Although it should be even faster, no? Hell, why don't they show it in real time on every pitch? That way, the players will know when to challenge. In effect, it'll be fully automated calls on every pitch then.
So sayeth Gil Scott-Heron. And remeber...order before midnight tomorrow.
If they made it so the entire ball must be in the strike zone, a lot of games would never end. Scores would explode to 87-78. We'd be there all night, 'til the night turns into day, per Led Zeppelin.
There's nothing wrong with the offenses around baseball. Only the Yankees can't hit for shit. Even the Rockies have an awe inspiring offense.
Early this year, I wanted the mounds lowered. I changed my mind whilst scoreboard watching. Because there are so many games now where some team scores over 20 runs, if we lowered the mounds, these games would never end. And there are a whole lotta vampire fans who have to retire to their caskets before the dawn.
So what's wrong with the Yankees, and a few other teams that can't hit for shit?
It's their approach, they way they hit. These guys suck. They take three giant swings and it's strike three. Or they launch a 450 foot moonshot. Home run derby. Except the Yankees suck, so a lot fewer home runs this year for them.
There are a lot of hitters around baseball who have the moonshot approach. If they cut down and used their fucking heads, their batting averages would go up 40-50 points.
I ask, where the hitters ever there when really needed, with a few exceptions?
Another thing with today's hitters, they all stand straight up like a Greek statue. Nobody does any crouching any more. Naturally, that gives the pitcher a big advantage with high strikes.
Instead of tinkering with the strike zone, if they want to improve the game, they should move the fences back 100 feet. Gigantic outfields, with huge real estate, will force outfielders to play further back to prevent inside-the-park home runs. That will increase batting averages everywhere. Batters will (or should) adapt by cutting down and hitting line drives, making contact. I'm sure it'll cause some incredible scores, 40 or 50 runs scored in one game by one team wouldn't be out of the question.
I would also cut down on the number of pitchers allowed on the roster. And get rid of the stupid rule that requires a pitcher to throw to at least three batters. If some manager wants to burn his pitcher on one batter, let him. He'll have one less pitcher available if the game goes to extra innings. Cutting down the number of pitchers allowed will reduce velocity coming out of the bullpen. Might also reduce starting pitcher velocity, as everyone realizes they have to turn in more than five innings.
And for crap's sake, get rid of the goddamned ghost runner in extra innings! That ain't baseball. That's exhibition, skills competition bull shit. This is hardball, not fucking NHL ice hockey. Stop trying to copy other sports, other leagues.
You can blame COVID for the ghost runner. I guess the COVIDs are more likely to appear in extra innings...
How bad were the 7 inning games if a double-header was played during COVID? Beer-league rules.
Batting averages are down because it is the rare hitter that adjusts his swing to the count or the situation.
Amazingly we call the guys that do, "professional hitters" even though they are all professional hitters.
Matsui, Edgar Martinez etc. They go for the optimal result on the pitch that is thrown.
Too many hitters just "swing away" regardless of where the ball is. Trying to get a home run that is not possible and, if they make contact at all, ground out or pop up. Or most often... strike out.
It's not the ABS it's a flawed philosophy..
El Duque brought up Charlie Lau. That was a hitting coach not like the current crop of launch angle loving "swinging coaches".
In the old days "Swinging Coaches" could be found in the hotel's bars and did their hitting on stewardesses.
Too many teams, too many players, too many analytics, too many rule changes, too many short outfield fences.
Baseball as we knew it doesn't exist anymore because the world as we knew it doesn't exist anymore.
How right you are, JM. We are all a bunch of anachronisms.
Due to work, I've been away for most of the last day, and it feels like a year! I do miss you guys!
First, thanks so much for the kinds words about the piece, Duque, and all of you cheese-eaters. It's great to hear...
Second, Judge actually struck out swinging his first time up.
Third, from what I know of it, Hammer and JM, you're both right: Joe D. was incredibly good at looking good, as well as playing good. He was expert at getting to balls so he didn't HAVE to dive.
At the same time, he was very prone to injury—usually inflicted by a Yankees trainer or groundskeeper—and was careful about putting his body on the line. Though it's pretty awesome reading about how, in that big Boston series, he was willing to take out 5-10, 185 Vern Stephens, to avenge Scooter...
About the hitting: you're ALL right. It's the approach to the game (which is all wrong), and it's what the owners demand, but it's also what the players want—we fans can go soak our heads, for all that any of them care—and...the Yankees do it least well.
Cashman always thinks he has filled the lineup with Kyle Schwarbers—not my favorite kind of player, but a guy will strike out 200 times but ALSO hit 40-50 homers, draw over 100 walks and bat around .240—when in fact, they are more like Joey Gallos...
Players such as McMahon, Wells, Grisham, and Jazz just aren't good enough to give you the upside of the Schwarber. That's why they never have a chance in the playoffs.
One thing that would boost offense is to go back to the 1960s definition of a check-swing: if the hitter didn't break his wrists and didn't make contact with the ball, it wasn't a swing. Frank Robinson could finish a non-swing with his bat pointed at the flagpole, not break his wrists, slowly bring the bat back, set it on his shoulder, and the umpire would call a ball. Today's hitters flinch and it's a called strike.
This is a great point. I like it. So that's one thing that would help the hitter. If the pitcher wants to strike the guy out, he should throw it in the strike zone. Then, even if the batter checks his swing, it's a strike. Conversely, it should incentivize greater bat control. That would help the overall game. Less swinging for the fences, more intelligent hitting.
I thought the ghost runner would disappear after the coronavirus epidemic ended. Looks like the ghost runner is never going away. Well, in the playoffs, they don't do this, right? But who knows, at some point, maybe they'll do the ghost runner even in the playoffs.
One of these days, there will be some Rickey Henderson inspired batters who will crouch down and reduce the strike zone to a flat pancake. Batting averages will go up, even if pitchers throw over 100 mph.
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