The rise in home runs in 2019 wasn't because of a juiced ball, but rather due, in part, to inconsistent seam height on the baseball combined with "player behavior," according to preliminary results of a study commissioned by Major League Baseball.
The early findings of the 27-page report were released Wednesday. The authors were a committee of professors charged with looking into the record number of home runs -- 6,776 -- in the past season.
The committee concluded that ball manufacturer Rawlings hadn't made any purposeful changes to the ball to increase offense. The report found the baseball's performance was because of variability in the production process and not because of anything intentionally done by MLB or manufacturer Rawlings.
Instead, the report determined that the carry of the ball led to 60 percent of the increase in home runs while launch conditions were the rest of the reason. The carry is affected by seam heights, in part, and the committee found "large ball-to-ball variation in those quantities," according to the report. In fact, among the balls evaluated in the study, four had seam heights less that 0.035 inches in height and two of them had seams that exceeded 0.0425 inches.
Since seam height is responsible for 35 percent of the carry, according to the report, the committee acknowledged additional review is needed.
"While we have learned much from our studies as well as those of other investigators," the report said, "there is much that is not yet understood."
The committee also said the home run increase, in part, also was due to changes in players' swings and launch angles.
The report included some recommendations, including researching how mud applied to balls influences the drag and looking into storing balls in humidors in every MLB stadium to make the conditions uniform across the country.
The professors said a more detailed report was still to come.
The study was the second commissioned by MLB and came following allegations that MLB ordered the balls to be manufactured to generate more offense.
The previous record for home runs in a season across MLB was 6,105. Fifteen teams set franchise records for home runs.
--Field Level Media
source: news.abs-cbn.com
CHICAGO - Enrique Hernandez smashed three home runs, including a grand slam, and the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to their first World Series since 1988 by defeating the Chicago Cubs 11-1 on Thursday.
Dodgers 26-year-old left-fielder Hernandez, who has helped hurricane relief efforts in his native Puerto Rico, smacked a solo blast in the second inning, a four-run round-tripper in the third and a two-run shot in the ninth to provide all the scoring Los Angeles would need.
The Dodgers dethroned Major League Baseball's defending champions by capturing the best-of-seven National League Championship Series 4-1 and will play for their first World Series crown in 29 years starting Tuesday in Los Angeles.
"It feels good to hear World Series," said Dodgers winning pitcher Clayton Kershaw. "It has been a long time coming for this team. I never thought I would play in a World Series. It's tough to sink in right now."
They will face the American League winner, either the New York Yankees or Houston Astros, in the best-of-seven final. The Yankees lead that series 3-2 entering game six Friday in Houston. No home team has yet lost.
Hernandez set a one-game league championship series record by driving in seven runs and matched another with three homers.
"Kike' (Hernandez), he told me he had my back today," Kershaw said. "He came through. It's a different guy every night. I'm having a lot of fun with them. It's unbelievable. It's a very special team to be a part of."
The Cubs had won five consecutive playoff games when facing elimination, three in last year's World Series and two in this year's playoffs, but again struggled to solve Dodgers pitching, having managed only one playoff hit with runners in scoring position.
Dodgers relief pitchers will enter the World Series having hurled 23 consecutive scoreless playoff innings.
Dodgers ace left-hander Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner as best pitcher, allowed only one run on three hits with five strikeouts over six innings for his sixth playoff win, tying a Dodgers' career record, while Cubs lefty Jose Quintana struggled before exiting in the third inning.
Los Angeles opened the scoring in the first inning when Chris Taylor walked and scored on Cody Bellinger's double to right field.
Hernandez swatted his first homer of the playoffs on the opening pitch of the second inning to give the Dodgers a 2-0 edge.
Taylor opened the crucial third inning with a ground rule double, bouncing a ball into the stands down the left-field line, and scored on Justin Turner's single to right field, boosting the Dodgers' lead to 3-0.
Bellinger and Yasiel Puig followed with singles to load the bases, prompting the Cubs to replace Quintana with right-handed reliever Hector Rondon.
- Hernandez hammers the Cubs -
Hernandez returned to the plate with one out and hammered the first Dodgers' playoff grand slam since 2008 over the Wrigley Field center-field wall, lifting the Dodgers ahead 7-0 and stunning Chicago supporters into silence.
The Cubs had only managed seven runs in the entire series to that point. The Dodgers struck for five runs on six hits in the inning.
Los Angeles added two more runs in the fourth inning as Taylor and Bellinger each singled and advanced on a wild pitch by reliever John Lackey. Taylor was thrown out at home on a ground ball by Puig but Logan Forsythe followed with a two-run double to left field, the onslaught reaching 9-0.
Chicago's Kris Bryant smacked a solo homer in the fourth to finally put the Cubs on the scoreboard.
But Hernandez smacked his third homer in the ninth, a fitting exclamation point on the Dodgers' rout.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- The Houston Astros rallied for a wild 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in Boston on Monday to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
The Astros won the best-of-five American League division series three games to one.
They'll battle either the New York Yankees or Cleveland Indians for a World Series berth.
Astros infielder Alex Bregman belted a game-tying home run off Red Sox ace hurler Chris Sale -- pitching in relief -- to lead off the eighth inning and Josh Reddick delivered a two-out run-batted-in single later in the inning off of Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel that put the Astros up 4-3.
Ken Giles held the Red Sox scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, and Kimbrel gave up a two-out, run-scoring double to Carlos Beltran that made it 5-3 for the visitors.
The Red Sox gave disheartened, rain-soaked fans at Fenway Park a last glimmer of hope in the bottom of the ninth when Rafael Devers led off the inning with a drive to deep left center field off Astros closer Ken Giles. It bounced off the wall and gave Devers an inside-the-park home run.
But it wasn't enough as the Astros reached a league championship series for the first time since 2005 -- when they were in the National League.
George Springer and Jose Altuve drove in one run each for the Astros.
Andrew Benintendi hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fifth inning and Xander Bogaerts smacked his first career playoff homer, a solo blast in the first, for the Red Sox.
Game one starter Justin Verlander, making his first career relief appearance, earned the victory, allowing one earned run on one hit, Benintendi's homer, with two walks in 2 2/3 innings.
Boston manager John Farrell was ejected in the second inning for arguing balls and strikes.
The Astros will open the ALCS on Friday either at Cleveland or at home to the Yankees.
"We're going to face a great team, whoever it is, and we're going to have to be ready to play," Bregman said. "But I'll tell you this, the game that we just won is going to prepare us a lot for those crucial moments during the next series."
The Yankees, who fended off elimination in New York on Sunday, hosted the Indians again later on Monday.
- Cubs take control -
National League action resumed on Monday as the World Series champion Chicago Cubs gained the upper hand in their NL division series with a 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals.
The victory put the Cubs up 2-1 in the best-of-five series with a chance to close it out at Wrigley Field on Tuesday.
Anthony Rizzo put the Cubs ahead in the eighth inning with a run-scoring single to shallow center field. Cubs closer Wade Davis pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the win.
Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer held the Cubs hitless for 6 1/3 innings before surrendering a double to Ben Zobrist in the seventh. Albert Almora followed with a run-scoring single off of reliever Sammy Solis that tied the game at 1-1.
Ryan Zimmerman had put the Nats up 1-0 in the sixth with a run-batted-in double.
Later Monday, the Los Angeles Dodgers tried to close out the Diamondbacks in Arizona after winning two at home.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
