Is pitching getting better, supporting Farrell's claim or is hitting worsening? We know that strikeouts as a percentage of outs has risen and that runs scored is falling. Is pitching dominance the cause or the decline associated with random drug testing for PEDs.
Certainly, we can wonder if the changing use of relief pitchers (see Kansas City Royals and this year's New York Yankees) is and will be the most important factor, but we have to wonder to what extent it is the dominant cause.
What can't be in dispute is that compared with watching "continuous action sports" like basketball and hockey or gladiatorial spectacle (the National Football League), baseball has become tedious. Maybe our concern shouldn't be whether the Red Sox have a number one, but whether watching baseball has much merit at all.
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