Baseball today is the best that’s ever been played
Did that hit a nerve? If you’ve been a baseball fan for a long time, there’s a pretty good chance you’re already shaking your head. That does not make the title of this article any less true. The baseball being played at the MLB level, and every other professional and college level, is the best quality baseball that’s ever been played.
How can that be said when today’s major leaguers don’t appear to have much idea how to bunt, situational hit, or prepare for every possible situation while in the field? Because, despite players getting pushed up to the majors without “years of seasoning”, they are stronger, faster, and smarter through the use of improved training methods and analytics. Admittedly some players do this better than others. In short, today’s players are better overall than all who came before.
Go back 75 years to 1948. This was the year after Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby became the first black players in the National and American Leagues. Robinson’s Dodgers made the World Series in 1947 losing to their archrival Yankees. Doby’s Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) reached and won the World Series in 1948 (their last Series win). With the advent of massively overdue integration, the level of play in MLB rose exponentially.
Regarding a player’s preparation to play at the Major League level, many baseball fans are aware that baseball’s minor league ‘farm’ system was the brainchild of Branch Rickey. Rickey’s concept was that by developing players at lower levels there’d be a steady stream of polished prospects in the organization ready to step in when needed. At the same time it also held down player costs. Every major league team followed suit and while the minor leagues have been reduced recently down to about 120 teams in total (affiliated with MLB), baseball is still the only sport with a multi-level minor league system.
The average player in 1948 (a mere 75 years ago) was not in the physical condition that the average players today are. For years there was a prejudice against baseball players lifting weights due to a fear of bulking up too much and consequently losing flexibility. Not there weren’t any players in the 1940’s, 50’s, and beyond that were physical specimens. There were many. But players from even 50 years ago did not train the way they do today. They also did not get paid the way they do today when baseball can be your only job! Hank Aaron, Wille Mays and Sandy Koufax all trained in the off-season and those guys did not have 2nd jobs. That was not the case for many of the players those three played against! The training methods, understanding of health and nutrition was not anything close to what they are today. Imagine how much better the greats of yesteryear might have been using today’s training methods! Of course, all the other players would also be better trained too.
Arguments that baseball today is not as high quality as the baseball played before free agency typically go something like this:
Baseball was the preeminent sport until the 1970’s and the best athletes for years chose baseball over football and basketball was even further behind. Because of that, the best played against the best, they were better prepared and more concerned for their jobs so they paid closer attention to all the little details.
This ignores that before 1947 many of the best baseball players were not allowed to play major league baseball and it took years after that for integration to filter through all the teams with the Red Sox finally relenting in 1959–12 years later.
So, would that make 1960’s baseball the best that’s ever been played? Well 60’s baseball certainly looked more like the baseball played today. Travel before the 1960s was arduous and impacted play on the field. Going unnoticed, air travel became the default in the 1960’s and this surely helped raise the overall level of play. As recently as the 1990’s the game on the field was played differently than the power arms, three-true-outcome style of today.
Today’s baseball with 95+MPH fastballs, wipeout sliders and ridiculous pitcher arsenals were not the standard that they are today. They are pushing the limits of how long a human arm can repeatedly fire a baseball with maximum extension and effort. Pitcher arm injuries have become more likely as a result. The days of having a weak #8 hitter in front of the pitcher allowing the pitcher to take it easier are long past. If a pitcher tries to get by with his less than best effort to conserve energy, that pitcher will get hammered by the opposition. There are reasons for that too!
Today’s batters can research pitchers in ways a player of the 1970’s could only imagine. Technology offers a huge lift to today’s player’s preparation. In the 2020 pandemic season MLB banned the players from using in-game video reviews due to a concern about sign stealing. That ended after the 2020 season which is too bad as it seems to me to be an unfair advantage for batters to review pitcher’s motions and tendencies during a game. Pitchers can also use video review, but the batter benefit of in-game video review seems much larger.
The overall speed of the game is much faster today. Not only because of the new pitch clock. Players are noted to be generally faster today with average time to first base at 27ft/sec. and Elly de la Cruz goes home to 1st in 4.13 seconds (30.5 ft/sec)* from https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sprint_speed_leaderboard. One classic baseball anecdote noted Mickey Mantle going from home to 1st in 3.1 seconds. This seems impossible that he could have been a full second faster than Elly de la Cruz! Measurement today is more precise and there are not reliable measurements for player speed from even 20 years ago. But given that we know players are taller, stronger, and better trained, it follows that player running speed is faster overall.
Pitchers throw harder and harder. The average fastball velocity by year is recorded from 93.1 mph in 2015 went up to 93.9 mph in 2022. You might think it the average would be even higher but there are still pitchers who can pitch in MLB who throw in the mid-to-upper 80s. While there were pitchers of yesteryear (which is only 30+ years ago) who could throw more than 90MPH, the number that did was fairly small.
Due to the overall increased speed of the game, athleticism is more important than it’s ever been. A player can know the right play to make by being prepared but still the execution of the play has to be done more quickly as most base runners are faster.
So how prepared are under 23-year-old players for the rigors and distractions of Major League Baseball? In 2022 Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez arrived in MLB and won the Rookie-of-the-Year award at the tender age of 22! In 2018 Juan Soto first played with the Washington Nationals at age 19 and was praised for his amazing understanding of the strike zone, a great sense that he continues to exhibit 5 years later. Michael Harris of the Braves who turned 22 only this year, won the NL ROY in 2021. Gunnar Henderson (AL) and Corbin Carroll (NL) are ROY candidates in their respective leagues this season. Clearly some players are better able to handle the bright lights and expectations at very tender ages than others. Are these players less prepared than the 4 or 5-year minor league veteran who does not make their MLB debut until age 25?
The answer is sometimes. MLB organizations don’t treat the players the way they did 50 years ago in terms of making them ‘pay their dues’. If a player can play and contribute at the MLB level teams will put them in the lineup. There are always considerations like extending control of a player by keeping the player in the minor leagues. When the Mets Pete Alonso was brought up to start the season as a rookie in 2019 the Mets sacrificed keeping an extra year of control by not holding him down in the minors. These players clearly did not have years of preparation at the minor league level because they did not need it. They were both finished products and ready for prime time.
Today’s baseball does not look or play like players your Mom and Dad, or even your Grandma and Grandad, watched. They might prefer ‘their’ fan experiences and the great players they grew up watching. However, speed, strength, analytics, and training make today’s baseball the best that’s ever been played.
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and now Substack.com.
