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Baseball’s regular season is over. But beneath the glitz and thrill of the current MLB playoffs, a set of glaring statistics continued to weave together a concerning story in 2025.

Only seven players batted .300 or better. Restricting the shift a few years ago was supposed to give more advantage to hitters. Not since 1968 have we seen so few players bat over .300. And 2025 was not exactly a dead-ball year. Aaron Judge of the American League’s New York Yankees led both leagues in hitting, .331. Philadelphia’s Trea Turner led the National League, recording a record-low .304 batting average. Judge put together an otherworldly season and was Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams all wrapped into one. He led both leagues in several offensive categories including runs scored (137), on-base percentage (.457), slugging percentage (.688), OPS (1.144), WAR (9.7) and total bases (372).

Home runs continued to soar at near record levels. More than 90 players hit 20 or more dingers this year and there was more wealth to spread around as a record 222 hitters mashed in double figures. The Yankees had seven guys hit 20 or more. But it was a rotund, affable catcher named Cal Raleigh of Seattle’s Mariners who hit the most: 60. The Yankees swatted 274.

Strikeouts also soared. The Yankee struck out 1,463 times on the way to getting those 274 home runs. And all of baseball struck out 40,645 times. Compare this to their 1990 predecessors of a generation ago that fanned only 30,225 times while hitting 3,556 home runs.

Fans could not get enough of the home run. And why not? They were seemingly drenched ad nauseum by giddy announcers and a plethora of analysts ballyhooing all kinds of metrics such as Exit Velocities, Launch Angles, and Expected Home Run Rate, or xHR%. The players themselves were given to cartoonish theatrics after hitting one out, from fancy bat-flips to the perfunctory pointing, glaring and glittering of bling as they sashayed around the bases.
Jazz Chisholm’s bat-flip after a recent home run against the Orioles was so cartoonish that it would have made Wesley Snipes’ Willie Mays Hayes envious. I seriously doubt Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan ever would have put up with these hijinks. To me, the most exciting play in baseball is the Triple. It often involves hitting a drive into the gap, up against the fence; nothing like watching the outfielder use his skills to gauge a carom as the ball hugs the wall like a pachinko machine and often involves at least three defensive players, relay throws and a play at third base. Plus, it lasts a helluva lot longer than a home run. Who hits triples? Corbin Carroll of the Dbacks had 17. Jarren Duran of the Red Sox, 13. A few others were in double figures. Sadly, that’s about it. All this emphasis on the home run has taken away from other rudiments of the game. Such as the hit-and-run; hitting behind the runner. And bunting for a base hit or sacrifice to move the runner. Oh, you’ll see them occasionally. But today’s game is not constructed for such skillsets. And then there’s the stolen base. You’d think with the bases six inches closer (3 inches gained from the enlarging of bases from 15 inches to 18 inches square), coupled with the ridiculous “sliding-mitts” worn by many base runners, that steals would have gone through the roof this year. Well, they did. Sort of. While nobody stole Rickey Henderson-like numbers, there was more balance as 119 players swiped at least 10 bases – the highest number in a generation. In
case you’re wondering, Jose Caballero’s 49 steals splitting time between the Rays and Yankees
led MLB.

A word about sliding mitts (or, ‘oven-mitts’) used by base runners. MLB should ban them. These things are so ridiculously sized that they often add anywhere from two to four inches to the tip of the hand. There is no specific MLB standard defining the size of a baserunner’s mitt. While umpires have the authority to deem a mitt “excessively” large under rule 8.01(c), I’ve never seen it called in a game. And I watched a lot of baseball this year.

Now let’s talk about pitching. Tracking pitch counts rose to prominence back in the 1980s, primarily used to help prevent arm injuries. They’re used in youth leagues through the Major Leagues. But has the emphasis gone too far, and are they measuring the wrong thing? Consider: I’ve watched starting pitchers begin to glance at the scoreboard pitch-count as early as the fourth inning. Once they reach, say, 75 pitches, it gets in their heads. All too often, a starting pitcher on cruise control pitching a 2-1 or 3-1 game gets pulled in the 6th or 7th inning because he was approaching 100 pitches… only to see the bullpen come in and blow the game.

Research shows there is a definite link between overuse and arm injuries. Some teams went to a six-man rotation at various points during the season. Traditional starters no longer start 36 games. They more likely get 31, maybe 32. Despite all the coddling of pitchers, Tommy John surgeries have continued to increase into 2025, especially for young athletes, with factors like increased pitch velocity, year-round play, and overuse contributing to the rise. Studies and reports in 2025 confirm a continued upward trend in UCL reconstructions, with some orthopedic centers seeing adolescent athletes account for nearly one-third of all procedures.

The complete game has become nearly extinct. Tanner Bibee, Nick Lodolo and Framber Valdez had two each. Shutouts and no-hitters? Fogettaboutit. Thirteen guys were allowed to complete one shutout this year. The pitching “win” has been devalued. Winning 20 games is no longer a benchmark goal. This year, Max Fried of the Yankees led with 19. While statistics deemed more important include WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and strikeout and walk rates per nine innings, I submit that the win is still valuable because it takes five innings to qualify. In today’s environment, that is becoming rarer. Wins posted by starting pitchers are seemingly replaced by relief pitcher “vulturers,” – guys who come in, pitch a third of an inning at just the right time, and get credit for a win. The trickle-down effect is glaring. Furthering the outrage is that increasingly-high numbers of starters cannot get out of the fifth inning – the minimum requirement for a win.

Instead of fixating on realignment and adding franchises, Commissioner Rob Manfred should instead focus on fixing the game. I offer the following suggestions:

First, get rid of the two-throw-over maximum pickoff attempts per runner; the three batter minimum for relievers; the automatic intentional walk and the free runner at second base to start extra innings. These were part of baseball’s package of speed-up rules that have had a negligible effect on game time. Instituting the pitch clock has shown to be the most effective adjustment in reducing game times. These other gimmicks are unnecessary.
Secondly, stop the practice of umpires inspecting pitchers following the half inning. Assuming every pitcher is guilty until proven innocent is backward thinking.

Third, move the fences back. I’ve written about this before. It can be done in 28 of the 30 ballparks (save Fenway and Wrigley). Today’s baseball athlete is bigger, faster and stronger than his predecessor of 20 or 30 years ago. Doing so will force baseball to return to emphasizing fundamental skills; home runs and strikeouts will diminish to more acceptable levels; you’ll see more situational baseball. The hit-and-run and hitting behind the runner will return. You’ll see drag bunts for base hits. Maybe even a suicide squeeze. Maybe even a steal of home.

Oh, one other thing: get rid of the third wild card team from each league. Two are acceptable, but adding wild cards further devalues the regular season. Sorry Reds fans, going 83-79 is not playoff caliber (shh.. just don’t tell that to the 1973 New York Mets).

Alas, the game is changing…for better or for worse. Along the way I’ll roll with it. And who knows? Maybe one day baseball will return to a best 5-of-9 World Series.

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Mike Marando is a former sports writer and current Chair of the Rancho Cordova Sports Hall of Fame