Baseball, 2015

For The New York Times, Tyler Kepner on the state of baseball in 2015:

The areas of emphasis are changing, but teams, of course, will always seek ways to gain an edge. Players will, too, but the drug culture that once led to an offensive boom is mostly gone. Thousands of runs and homers have gone with it, but baseball — for now — can live with that.

“You have to get rid of performance-enhancing drugs, because they are a threat to the integrity of the game,” [league commissioner Rob] Manfred said. “And whatever the game looks like with players playing clean is what the game looks like.”

Strikeouts are up and homers are down. The game is evolving, but I say: good for the game. I grew up in the PED-fueled home run era. It was fun to watch, but now I look back on those years ashamed of what the game became. Baseball needs to move forward and if it’s a more defensive game, so be it.

Man, I’m so happy it’s Spring. Go, Phillies.

Oh and speaking of my Phils:

They lost Thursday afternoon to the Rays at Bright House Field, 10-1, to finish 1-7-1 in their last nine games. They were outscored 72-27 in that stretch.

Oof. Whatever. Go team.