Lots of fans are grumbling about the Tigers' lack of offense so far and no doubt the bats are cold in the ealy going. Coming into tonight's game, they were batting .231/.302/.362 which pales in comparison to their .274/.329/.449 line for all of 2006. The only players who are hitting consistently well right now are Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Pudge Rodriguez.
Players don't want to blame the lack of hitting on the cold weather but it's really difficult to hit in the awful conditions in which they've played so far. With bad weather all around the country, the offense is down everywhere as fantasy league owners will testify. The American League is hitting a collective .251/.323/.386 so far this year. In 2007, the league hit .275/.339/.437. Furthermore, the average American League team is averaging 4.3 runs per game as opposed to 5 runs per game in 2006.
There is no way to prove that the cold weather is responsible for the lack of offense but that is my theory and most people seem to agree with me. I doubt they would have created unlively balls for the season! I think we'll get back to modern day home run derby ball as soon as the weather warms up.
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Have home runs as a percentage of runs declined in proportion with overall run-scoring? Although offenses are struggling across the league, there still seems to be an awful lot of home runs. I don't know if that's actually true or if I'm just watching too much "Baseball Tonight."
ReplyDeleteZach, Homeruns are actually down more than runs so far. Going into today, runs were down 8% and home runs were down 20%. Home runs as a percentage of runs are down 15%. It's all small sample sizes and different time periods (April vs a full season) but that's how it all stands right now.
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