When they suddenly stop using anything, as Glasnow implied, they try to make up for it by gripping the ball harder, and that leads to more arm injuries.

I do think it's unfair to begin the tough enforcement 40 percent of the way into a season, cold turkey.

In 150 years of stats on Baseball Reference 2021 has the second fewest hits per game in MLB history, trailing only 1908. So far this season also has the most strikeouts per season. The pitchers can cry about the enforcement stepping up mid-season but they are the ones who broke the rule to the point of drastically changing the game. In 2005 there was an average of 1.437 hits per strikeout, just sixteen years later that has dropped to .883. No sympathy for the pitchers, a pitchers duel like tonight is fine as the exception but there has been too much slow and scoreless baseball as MLB is also on pace to set a record for longest average game length.

Nine hits and 16 strikeouts last night. Great walk off win but hop more offense today.

More strikeouts than hits, for (I think) the sixth year in a row.

That is correct, not too long ago there were 1.400 hits per strikout, so far this year it is 0.883, a completely different game. I'm with Manfred on this, bring back the hits.

Year H K H/K
2021 7.89 8.94 0.883
2020 8.04 8.68 0.926
2019 8.65 8.81 0.982
2018 8.44 8.48 0.995
2017 8.69 8.25 1.053
2016 8.71 8.03 1.085
2015 8.67 7.71 1.125
2014 8.56 7.7 1.112
2013 8.66 7.55 1.147
2012 8.65 7.5 1.153
2011 8.7 7.1 1.225
2010 8.76 7.06 1.241
2009 8.96 6.91 1.297
2008 9.06 6.77 1.338
2007 9.25 6.62 1.397
2006 9.28 6.52 1.423
2005 9.05 6.3 1.437
2004 9.17 6.55 1.400

The way it's being implemented is a bad look.

A few days ago MLB announced another crack down on foreign substance use by pitchers and suddenly Scherzer has another mysterious pulled muscle.

My new theory is that Scherzer is ducking the Nats this week with a fake hamstring injury because he doesn't want to get caught with pine tar the way that Davey Johnson ratted out Joel Peralta.