[quote="Monte" post=399499]Have watched very little baseball this year but at the last minute I decided to throw a few bucks on TB, so I watched. To Fordham's point, this team does not seem to have many situational hitters, like the great Yankee teams of the mid-late 70's and mid-late 90s. Those guys would make the opposing team's pitchers work, and every at bat would be a battle. Those guys also adjusted based on the situation, especially late in close games. This team seems to be all or nothing. And for a guy who guaranteed a win tonight, Voit didn't exactly make himself look like Joe Willie[/quote]
I agree that the composition of the Yankees is different from that of 90's glory years. But the game has changed. And it's hard to compare eras. It's hard to know exactly what accounts for the changes, but a couple of things to note:
1. The shifts that defenses employ have reduced the ability of hitters to get non-HR hits. Situational hitting is harder. Basically, a GM and the math he is employing, and thus the defensive alignment, makes it is harder to hit 'through' a defense, rather than just hit 'over' the defense. It worked for the Rays in the playoffs to hit 'over' the defense, and it almost worked for the Yankees.
The positioning of the defenses is just way better now. Math-wise, those glory year teams in the '70s and '90s hit into 'dumber' defenses. This is a good article on some of this stuff:
[URL]https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/8/10/21362068/mlb-babip-low-2020-season[/URL]
2. Power pitching. There are way more relievers throwing 97+ now. I'm sure situational hitting is harder when the pitcher can throw the ball past you and you can't even make contact.
In 1999 the league-wide batting average was .271; in 2020 it was .245; it's a huge differenece.
3. Finally - and this is me just wildly speculating; what else could have a potential impact - a lot less steroids now. In 1990s, that extra bit of strength might allow a player to hit that single, double or HR instead of making an out.
The game is just different. I presume most importantly, it's the GMs telling their players - the heck with the singles. Just swing super hard and hit home runs, draw walks, and we'll live with the strike outs and low batting average.
I agree that the composition of the Yankees is different from that of 90's glory years. But the game has changed. And it's hard to compare eras. It's hard to know exactly what accounts for the changes, but a couple of things to note:
1. The shifts that defenses employ have reduced the ability of hitters to get non-HR hits. Situational hitting is harder. Basically, a GM and the math he is employing, and thus the defensive alignment, makes it is harder to hit 'through' a defense, rather than just hit 'over' the defense. It worked for the Rays in the playoffs to hit 'over' the defense, and it almost worked for the Yankees.
The positioning of the defenses is just way better now. Math-wise, those glory year teams in the '70s and '90s hit into 'dumber' defenses. This is a good article on some of this stuff:
[URL]https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/8/10/21362068/mlb-babip-low-2020-season[/URL]
2. Power pitching. There are way more relievers throwing 97+ now. I'm sure situational hitting is harder when the pitcher can throw the ball past you and you can't even make contact.
In 1999 the league-wide batting average was .271; in 2020 it was .245; it's a huge differenece.
3. Finally - and this is me just wildly speculating; what else could have a potential impact - a lot less steroids now. In 1990s, that extra bit of strength might allow a player to hit that single, double or HR instead of making an out.
The game is just different. I presume most importantly, it's the GMs telling their players - the heck with the singles. Just swing super hard and hit home runs, draw walks, and we'll live with the strike outs and low batting average.
Last edited:
