Back to the Future …

[60sdog]

Back to 1998. Final game in 1998 was 21-14. Final 2 games in 2023 were 24-4 and 18-4. This is not real baseball any longer. Gorilla ball again. They ( the NCAA) have juiced the ball solely in the belief that it will increase TV ratings. As bad as we were, we beat the Corndogs 9-4 and 14-13 our last two games.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Back to 1998. Final game in 1998 was 21-14. Final 2 games in 2023 were 24-4 and 18-4. This is not real baseball any longer. Gorilla ball again. They ( the NCAA) have juiced the ball solely in the belief that it will increase TV ratings. As bad as we were, we beat the Corndogs 9-4 and 14-13 our last two games.

Well, in 2015, this wasn't the case.

The players seem to be bigger and stronger now, in those 8-9 years. Or maybe more of these draft guys are coming to school rather than going pro. Maybe it's more velo too.

 

[Drebin]

Back to 1998. Final game in 1998 was 21-14. Final 2 games in 2023 were 24-4 and 18-4. This is not real baseball any longer. Gorilla ball again. They ( the NCAA) have juiced the ball solely in the belief that it will increase TV ratings. As bad as we were, we beat the Corndogs 9-4 and 14-13 our last two games.

Or maybe it's just that pitching depth for both teams is very thin....they have a couple of really good guys and a bunch of middling talent after that.

It doesn't seem like gorilla ball when aces are pitching.

 

[WrapItDog]

A pretty strong wind was blowing out (which rarely happens) at Schwab the last 2 games of the finals. Prior to those two games no team had scored more than 7 runs in the 2023 CWS.

LSU averaged 5.75 runs a game @ the CWS and FL 7.5. Take out the last two games of the finals and LSU avg was 4 and FL 4.25 runs.

 

[maroonmania]

This has been happening all year with run scoring going up significantly. Our team ERA was ridiculous but every team's ERA seemed to go up a good bit this year. I realize the dead ball era went too far the other way but I thought the past few years had been about right. What has happened this year to run scoring up so much? I know part of it is the smaller strike zone but there is no doubt the ball is flying off bats this year.

 

[60sdog]

Many more "tape measure" shots this year also.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Trackman stuff may have more to do with it too. And the pitch clocks.

Either way, offense is better for the game. Home runs are still the most exciting play in baseball and always will be.

 

[mcdawg22]

It looks like between 2003 and 2021 there was only one player with at least 31 HRs. Kris Bryant. There was one in 2022 and 2 in 2023 with another player at 30.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Intent or not, the TV ratings were huge this year. 3.5 million viewers for the game last night. Two years ago when we we won it, viewership peaked at 1.67 million.