SAN DIEGO – Is it time for Major League Baseball to check something?
Home runs are back on the upswing across the league. In 2014, 4,186 home runs were hit. The number spiked to 4,909 last season and projections this year suggest that last year's number will be topped.
Baseball is supposed to be in the post-steroid era. What gives?
"The increase in the number of home runs takes place against a very, very different backdrop," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in his annual All-Star Game news conference with the Baseball Writers Association of America. "Major League Baseball does 22,000 drug tests a year. The World Anti-Doping Agency has said that Major League Baseball has one of the best testing programs in the world, let alone in professional sports. Our investigative capacity in the area of performance-enhancing drugs is probably the best in the world. So I'm much less concerned that this is due to performance-enhancing drugs."
Manfred said the spike in home runs last season was a result of how the game is currently being played. He pointed out how more players with power are batting higher in the batter order to get more at-bats. He also noted that last year's surge occurred during the second half of the season, and surmised that any PED influence would have led to differences at the beginning of the season.
"We think it has to do more with the game this time around," he said, "because we are comfortable that we're doing everything we can on the performance-enhancing drugs front."
He also shot down concerns that the baseball is livelier.
"The baseball is the same as it was last year," Manfred said.
Games taking longer
Despite the league's effort, the average time of a game is up to 3 hours and 13 seconds. Last year, the league trumpeted games averaging 2:53.04.
The replay system appears to be part of the problem. Batters also have been allowed to step out of the batter's box between pitches when they initially were asked not to dawdle outside the box.
And some pitchers continue to work slowly. During a recent game, the Diamondbacks' Tyler Clippard took more than 20 seconds between pitches when the league wants pitches delivered in around 12 seconds.
"Pace of play, for me, is like having dandelions on your front lawn," Manfred said. "I just can't get rid of them. It's an ongoing problem."
The league remains focused on shortening games, and Manfred said there are proposals on the table with the union that addresses speeding up games.
CBA deal not near
Neither Manfred nor players' union chief Tony Clark offered any indications that any bumps have popped up on the road to a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires Dec. 1.
"A lot has been discussed across a number of areas," Clark said. "All beneficial to the extent that both sides have a pretty good idea of where the other side is. Now we'll see if we can find some common ground."
