10 Reasons You Should Love Baseball Again in 2015
They tell me you're here because, somewhere along the line, you turned away from baseball.
That's OK. No hard feelings. It can be said that baseball is an acquired taste to begin with, and the last couple of decades have indeed offered legit reasons to turn away.
There was the 1994-1995 strike, for one. Then there was a brief era of extreme home run feats that we eventually found out was a chemically enhanced sham. More recently, a sport that already had a reputation for being slow and boring definitely got slower and arguably more boring.
But there's a reason you clicked on this link—you heard the 2015 Major League Baseball season is just starting up. And with football season long gone and March Madness over, you're thinking, "Well, maybe now's the time to get back into it."
If so, well, I'm pleased to tell you that you couldn't have picked a better time. There are numerous reasons to fall in love with baseball all over again, but these 10 should be all you need...
Baseball Is Finally Trying to Pick Up the Pace
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If your No. 1 complaint about baseball has been that it moves too slowly, prepare for some good news.
Back in February, MLB announced new pace-of-play initiatives designed to speed up the pace of games. One change requires batters to keep one foot inside the box in between pitches, and another involves a clock that precisely times between-innings activities.
Nothing too drastic, to be sure. But well-timed? You bet.
As Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe noted, the average game length has ballooned from two hours and 30 minutes in 1954 to more than three hours. These days, we can also go to FanGraphs for data that tells us the pace in between pitches went from 21.5 seconds in 2007 to 23.0 seconds last year.
But this leads us to some more good news: It's early, but so far the new rules are working.
David Schoenfield of ESPN.com noted that games on Opening Day were 20 minutes shorter on average than games on Opening Day last year. Also, the pace in between pitches has dropped by a half second.
It may not sound like much, but you can tell while watching that things are different. Pitchers are getting the ball and throwing it, and in general, there's less standing around. Rather than a loitering contest, baseball is looking more like an athletic contest again.
That, certainly, makes for less of a boring spectacle. And to help matters...
Who Says Baseball Stars Are Boring?
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If you've ever thought it, know that it's not just you. Due to a longstanding emphasis on playing the game "the right way," baseball has indeed preferred for its best players to be decidedly vanilla in demeanor.
But some players are fighting the good fight, and they're absolutely worth watching.
The list begins with Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, an athletic specimen from Cuba who plays the game with what Grantland's Michael Baumann rightfully called a "suicidally aggressive" style. He's electric whether he's hitting, running or fielding and is known for epic bat flips and epic throws. Many don't like him for his devil-may-care style, but nobody can turn away when he's on the field.
There's also Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, who has Ken Griffey Jr.'s home run strut and, on occasion, Pete Rose's hustle. Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez robs home runs with the best of 'em, and he cares not if he hurts your feelings. If you prefer more light-hearted fare, Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre is arguably the most GIF-able athlete there is.
Not that it's all about the hitters, mind you. New York Mets ace Matt Harvey has an array of devastating pitches and acts like a classic larger-than-life New York superstar. Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez pitches with more energy than anybody. Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez has more fun than anybody.
These are the guys you need to put on your watch list if you prefer to watch talent with a bit of swagger on the side. But if you just want to watch talent, period, you need to watch...
The Best Young Player in MLB History Is Playing RIGHT NOW
3 of 10You don't need to be a hardcore baseball fan to be familiar with the sport's Mt. Rushmore of all-time greats. Babe Ruth. Willie Mays. Hank Aaron. Mickey Mantle. They're all up there.
But now prepare to meet a guy who could be better than any of them. His name is Mike Trout.
He's a center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels who's only 23 years old, and he offers a rare blend of extreme speed, power and general hitting know-how. And presently, he's in the middle of the greatest early-career run of dominance that baseball has ever seen.
In his first three full seasons between 2012 and 2014, Trout hit .311 with 93 home runs and 98 stolen bases. He led the American League in runs scored all three years and is coming off a year in which he led the AL in RBI and won his first MVP award. He's also put himself on many a highlight reel with his defense.
A more advanced stat that we use to evaluate players nowadays is called "wins above replacement," which assesses players' value based on their all-around skills (hitting, baserunning, defense). And if you go looking for where Trout ranks all-time among players his age, you won't need to look for long.
Nope. You'll find him right there on top of the list, according to Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs. He obviously still has a lot of baseball ahead of him, but so far he's been better than any other young player who's ever come along.
If you're an East Coaster who would rather not stay up late to watch Trout do his thing, don't worry. It so happens there's another once-in-a-generation hitter in your neck of the woods...
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If You Like Dingers, You'll LOVE Giancarlo Stanton
4 of 10Maybe you're not into lightning-rod players. Or even all-around talents. Maybe part of you actually enjoyed what happened in the steroid era and just want to see someone sock a few dingers.
Well, MLB has a guy for that too.
Meet Giancarlo Stanton, the 25-year-old right fielder for the Miami Marlins who looks like he was engineered to obliterate baseballs. He's listed at 6'6" and 240 pounds, and every one of those 240 pounds might actually be a muscle. The dude is loaded with 'em.
The primary function of all those muscles? To hit the ball a very, very long way.
Up above is a 510-foot shot in last year's Home Run Derby. Stanton has gone as far as 494 feet in an actual game and has also hit a homer hard enough to break a scoreboard. Even his fence-scrapers are highlight-reel material.
To boot, this power isn't infrequent. Stanton's 37 homers led the National League in 2014 and pushed his career total to 154 through only his age-24 season. He's one of only 11 players in history with that many home runs through the age of 24. From a pure power perspective, he rates even higher.
If you're looking for other power hitters to watch in addition to Stanton, I have bad news and good news.
The bad news is that power is hard to come by these days due to how much offense has disappeared. The good news, however, is that the pitchers responsible for this are exciting in their own right.
Offense May Be Down, but the Pitching Is Darned Exciting
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If the last time you were really into baseball was during the steroid era, one thing you should know about today's game is that it's pretty much the exact opposite. Pitching rules the day, to a point where offensive production is lower than it's been in decades.
If all the offense of the steroid era was a turnoff for you, your interest might already be piqued. But if you need more convincing, know this: Watching today's pitchers go to work is really fun.
Offense isn't down because baseball has been overrun by crafty Tom Glavine types. It's down because the sport has been overrun by a never-before-seen collection of power arms. The average fastball has gone from 89.9 miles per hour in 2002 to 91.8 miles per hour, and seemingly every other pitcher can throw 95 mph.
But it's not all about the heat. Today's pitchers are also throwing comparatively fewer fastballs, allowing for more secondary pitches to be thrown. And more so than the heat, that's where the real fun is.
From Stephen Strasburg's changeup and curveball to Corey Kluber's slider to Chris Sale's slider to Felix Hernandez's changeup to Masahiro Tanaka's splitter, the league is teeming with secondary pitches that look like they were made in a special effects lab for a Michael Bay baseball movie. That's a big reason why the league's hitters are suddenly whiffing and striking out so much.
Of course, even in a league where pitchers reign supreme, not all arms are created equal. There's one pitcher in particular that you need to see to believe...
Clayton Kershaw Is a Modern-Day Sandy Koufax
6 of 10If you've heard of Sandy Koufax, you know the deal.
The former Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander is an all-time great not because he was great for a long time but because he was a whole 'nother kind of great for a very short time. Particularly between 1963 and 1966, when he authored a 1.86 ERA and won three Cy Young awards.
That's the kind of run that never figured to happen again. Until now, thanks to another Dodgers left-hander: Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw is a 27-year-old who, like Koufax before him, gets by on excellent command, a hard fastball and devastating breaking stuff (in his case, a wicked slider and an unmatched curveball).
These things have led to a Koufax-ian run of success over the last four years, as Kershaw put up a 2.11 ERA and won three Cy Youngs between 2011 and 2014. Most recently, he's coming off a season in which he recorded a 1.77 ERA and pitched arguably the most dominant no-hitter ever.
Despite the difference in ERA, we have more sophisticated measures that say Kershaw's four-year run is actually right on par with Koufax's 1963-1966 run. There's strong support that Kershaw isn't duplicating what Koufax did exactly, mind you, but that the comparison can be made at all is downright unfathomable.
Take that as your cue to make sure your butt is on your couch whenever Kershaw is toeing the rubber. When he takes the ball, something special is liable to happen.
Oh, and make sure you pay special attention to the soundtrack. Because...
This Might Be Vin Scully's Last Year Calling Dodgers Games
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"It's time for Dodger baseball!"
Vin Scully has been welcoming Dodgers fans with those words for more than 60 years now and has long since entrenched himself among the best sports broadcasters of all time. He's certainly the best that baseball has ever known, and he's still going strong into his 66th season at the mic in 2015.
There is, however, a chance that this will finally be the end of the line for Scully.
Scully is 87 years old, and 66 years of broadcasting is obviously a very long time. That's why he's been operating on a year-to-year basis, and why he's been in no rush to announce whether he'll be returning for another season. And at some point, he'll finally announce that he won't be coming back.
So don't assume there will be plenty more of Scully's announcing to soak in later. It's better to assume that this year might be it and to soak in as much as you can while you can.
You won't regret it. If you haven't heard Scully call a game in a while, know that he still offers that unique old-school eloquence and a Twitter account-worthy stream of delightful phrases and references. He also still has loads of stories to tell in between the action, and nobody captures the big moments like he does.
Now you know a bit about the state of the league today and what's worth watching. But if you want to know more about the state of the competition, one thing you may be happy to hear is that...
The Yankees No Longer Have an Iron-Fisted Rule over Baseball
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Did you turn away because you were sick of the New York Yankees? Was it after their run of success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, or after they proved in 2009 that money can indeed buy championships?
Either way, it's safe to come back now. The pinstriped boogeyman that terrorized the baseball landscape for so many years is no more.
The Yankees have recently slipped into a state of mediocrity. After making the playoffs in 17 out of 18 years between 1995 and 2012, they've fallen short in each of the last two years and will be hard-pressed to make it back in 2015. Projection systems like the one at Baseball Prospectus figure that they have enough talent to be about a .500 team, and even that may be optimistic.
Maybe this sounds unbelievable, but it's really not.
Derek Jeter's 2014 retirement marked the official end of the "Core Four" era, and the Yankees aren't even baseball's biggest spenders anymore. And though their payroll is still big, a lot of their money is tied up in over-the-hill stars like Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann.
Oh, the Yankees will be good again eventually. In guys like Didi Gregorius, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda and Dellin Betances, they're not entirely without young players to build around. They also have more coming in a farm system that, after years of being ignored, is finally getting some much-needed TLC.
For now, though, the Yankees' days as baseball's schoolyard bully are on hold. And in times like these, it's all too appropriate that there's some positive movement on the opposite side of the spectrum...
Never Mind Lovable Losers, the Cubs Might Actually Be Lovable Winners
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Before you ask, no, the Chicago Cubs still haven't snapped that World Series drought. The Curse of the Billy Goat turned 70 years old and the Cubs' drought turned 107 years old last year.
It is, however, very much in danger.
A couple of years ago, the Cubs hired Theo Epstein, best known as the guy who laid the Curse of the Bambino to rest in Boston, to oversee a rebuild that would hopefully produce a superteam that would compete for championships on a yearly basis. In 2015, that project should finally bear fruit.
Having already cultivated young stars Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro, the Cubs will welcome aboard two new ones this year in Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant. Both pack tons of power, and Bryant in particular has the look of baseball's next great phenom after a dominant season in the minors last year.
The Cubs should also pitch well. They spent $155 million on lefty ace Jon Lester over the winter, pairing him with near-no-hitter machine Jake Arrieta. In the bullpen, the Cubs are loaded with power arms.
Tying it all together is Joe Maddon. He's known not only for being an innovative in-game strategizer but also for instilling a sense of fun in his players. As veteran reliever Jamey Wright once adequately summed it up to Chris Strauss of USA Today, Maddon is "the ambassador of all good times."
With power bats, power arms and one of the game's best managers, the Cubs should at least be worth watching in 2015. If all goes really well, they might finally put an end to their 107-year misery.
Provided one of baseball's many other contenders doesn't get in the way, of course. And about that...
These Days, Every Team Has a Chance
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For a while there, baseball had a competitive balance problem. Though there were 30 teams in the league, it often seemed like half of them were unofficial farm teams for the big spenders.
By now, however, this is ancient history.
The league's skyrocketing revenue stream has allowed for small-market teams to spend big bucks for a change. Most of these big bucks have gone into developing and locking up homegrown talent, but they've also gone into trade and free-agent acquisitions. Combined with the addition of a second wild-card spot in 2012, suddenly building a winner isn't so hard.
It's no wonder that several franchises have recently snapped long postseason droughts. It was the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals in 2012, and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013. In 2014, the Kansas City Royals not only snapped a nearly 30-year October drought but also darn near won it all.
In 2015, the stage is set for more of the same. It may be the Seattle Mariners' and Toronto Blue Jays' turn in the American League, and the Miami Marlins' or San Diego Padres' turn in the National League. And across the league, really the only obvious division favorite is the Nationals in the NL East.
In short, parity has become the name of the game. That allows for six months' worth of ups and downs and backs and forths—and for an October stage where truly anything is possible.
It's just one of many ways the league has changed for the better and certainly the biggest reason why baseball deserves your attention again.
So, allow me to be the first to say it: Welcome back.
Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.
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