Baseball’s best are descending upon the Emerald City of Seattle for this week’s All Star Game festivities, which means we’ve reached the halfway point of the marathon that is the MLB season. With the vast rule changes implemented for 2023, no one knew what to expect, and the campaign thus far has proven to be more unexpected than anyone could’ve imagined.
There are stats across the board that are higher than they’ve been in decades, and there’s teams at the tops of divisions that no one ever saw coming. There’s a relative unknown infielder flirting with a seemingly unbreakable baseball record, among a host of other topsy-turvy takeaways from a wild first half.
All this to say, baseball is fun to watch again. The fans have proven that, too. Attendance at all 30 ballparks combined has surpassed 1.5 million fans on multiple weekend occasions so far. Fans are tuning in too, not just churning through the turnstiles.
ESPN has seen a 7% jump in their marquee Sunday Night MLB telecasts from 2022. TBS has seen a whopping 45% jump in viewership on its exclusive Tuesday night game package. FOX has seen an average of over 2 million fans per week for its Saturday “Baseball Night in America” network packages, up from what was no more than 1.25 million at this time in 2022. FOX has also seen a steep jump in its twice-weekly telecasts on its FS1 cable outlet.
The big reason fans are tuning in both in person and on screens? MLB’s bold and brash rule changes to speed up the pace of play and create more action have done just that. Through 1,231 MLB contests thus far, the average length of games is down to 2 hours and 38 minutes.
The season average for 2022 was 3 hours and 3 minutes.
The pitch clock has done what it was designed to do and sped up play, but done so without sacrificing any qualities from hitters or pitchers thus far. Team batting averages are higher this year than last, and many team ERAs are lower than they were at this time a year ago. We also saw the first perfect game pitched in MLB since 2012, as well as a combined no-hitter.
MLB surprised many when they increased the sizes of the base bags, done in an effort to encourage teams to be more aggressive on the basepaths and create more action. It’s more then accomplished that. MLB teams as a whole have stolen 79.4% of the bases they’ve attempted to, a 4% jump from all of 2022. Teams are attempting to steal nearly three times as often as they did last year, and have been twice as successful.
The teams that have found the best ways to not only navigate, but utilize these new rules are the unexpected names at the tops of division standings. Big team names with bigger payrolls are the ones who are surprisingly struggling mightily.
ARRAEZ FLIRT WITH .400 HAS FISH FLYING HIGH
The standings may show them 8.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves for first place, but one of the biggest surprises in the National League has been the 53-28 Miami Marlins. That record is the second best in the NL, behind the 60-29 Braves. The fightin’ fish are paced by the breakout campaign of second baseman Luis Arraez, whose .383 batting average at the All-Star Break has him flirting with being the first player since Ted Williams in 1941 to hit at least .400 in a season. A young pitching staff aced by Sandy Alcantara has been backed up by Arraez heading an offensive attack with help from MLB The Show 23 cover athlete Jazz Chisolm, plus power from Jorge Soler and Joey Wendle.
D-BACKS DAZZLING IN DESERT
Even more unexpected than Miami, the success of the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose roster of young guns and savvy veterans are tied with the mighty LA Dodgers for first place in the NL West. Under the guise of manager Terry Louvello, the Snakes have taken full advantage of baseball’s new rules by running mad on the basepaths and pitching exquisitely. Their ace, Zac Gallen, is the frontrunner at the break to win the NL Cy Young Award. Their offensive star, Corbin Carroll, is the frontrunner for the NL Rookie of the Year. Those two, along with Geraldo Perdomo, Jake McCarthy and Carson Kelly make up the core of youngsters making a huge impact. That’s mixed with a group of veterans having found their relative fountains of youth. Evan Longoria, Lourdes Gurriell Jr, Christian Walker and Ketel Marte are all slashing hitting lines many thought were in days past. This had made for a perfect mixture of youth and experience, and has the Diamondbacks playing hotter baseball inside Chase Field than the temperature outside in Phoenix.
BOCHY BRINGING RANGERS BACK TO RELEVANCE
After a multi-year hiatus from managing, the Texas Rangers tapped former World Series Champion skipper Bruce Bochy to man their dugout. A talented roster that had underperformed in 2022 needed a more classical, less analytical managerial approach. It’s worked to near perfection. Texas sits at 52-39 at the All Star Break, 2.5 games ahead of the defending World Series Champion Houston Astros atop the AL West. High-paid shortstop Corey Seager is pacing a high-scoring offense with help from switch-hitting catcher Jonah Heim, DH Mitch Garver and power-hitting outfielder Adolis Garcia. Veteran Jon Gray is pacing a pitching staff that has seen a renaissance of its own.
RED-HOT RED LEGS
Rounding out the list of “division leaders no one saw coming”, the 50-41 Cincinnati Reds, who sit a game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers atop the mediocre NL Central. Switch-hitting, speedy, rookie sensation shortstop Elly De La Cruz has taken the baseball world by storm with his amazing talents. He hit a 430 foot bomb in his big league debut, has dazzled with his speed on the bases as well as on defense, and became the first Red since Eric Davis in 1989 to hit for the cycle. Behind him, a list of relative unknowns have been pacing the Red Legs offense. Spencer Steer, Jake Fraley, Nick Senzel and Matt McClain have teamed with franchise cornerstones Johnathan India and Joey Votto to fill Cincinnati’s sky with fireworks night after night.
HIGH PAYROLL, LOW RESULTS
Steve Cohen unlocked baseball’s biggest Brinks truck during the winter, going on a spending spree that saw the Mets more than overtake the Yankees with MLB’s highest payroll. The results for the squad have fallen woefully short of their expensive expectations. High priced free-agent signing Justin Verlander has underwhelmed on the mound, while the pair of existing stars Cohen signed massive contract extensions and haven’t done anything to live up to them. Fransisco Lindor and Max Scherzer both became two of the richest men in baseball just to stay members of the Mets, but have woefully underperformed to this point. Add in struggles from others such as slugger Pete Alonso and a bullpen who has yet to figure out how to navigate the loss of closer Edwin Diaz to a torn ACL, the Mets are 42-48. In an NL East that has the two best teams in the National League on top of it, the Mets are in a deep hole, 18.5 games back of Atlanta in first place.
CARDINAL CONUNDRUM
Losing baseball isn’t something fans of the St. Louis Cardinals are used to. At all. The team hasn’t had a losing record in 16 years, and only three losing seasons since 1996 (1997, 1999, 2007). A team loaded with talent that was thought to be running away with the mediocre NL Central at this point in the season is shockingly stuck in the cellar of it. Reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt and reigning MVP runner-up Nolan Arenado have done all they can to pace an underperforming offense. Nolan Gorman’s breakout first-half campaign has been a surprise, as has rookie standout Jordan Walker. Struggles from many other talents have loomed too large.
The likes of Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, Paul Dejong and Tyler O’Neill have either been plagued by inconsistency, injury, or both. High-priced free agent signing Willson Contreras, brought in to fill the void left by Yadier Molina behind the plate, has more than underwhelmed at the plate. The Cardinals brought the backstop in mainly for his bat more than his defense behind the plate, but neither has been good thus far. Pitching, both starting and reliving has been an absolute nightmare. The Cardinals failed to address starting pitching needs in the offseason, so confident to even say publicly they had six legit starters. That failure has shown through mightily. The Cards have one of the highest team ERAs in all of baseball, as Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz have been shelled night after night.
Veteran Adam Wainwright, who staved off retirement for one more run, has given up way too many runs. Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty have really been the Cardinals only consistent starters to this point, which isn’t saying much.
Finally, the bullpen. St. Louis has lost, by far, the most one-run games this year in all of baseball. If there’s a way to lose a game in the late innings, the Cardinals have found new and interesting ways to do so this season. The Redbirds are just 8-21 in games decided by 1 run so far, and the inconsistencies of their bullpen are the root cause.
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