Baseball Is Striking Out

The World Series is being played right now between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays but baseball has a major league problem.

In the just completed season there were more strikeouts recorded than hits.

This is the ninth consecutive season this has occurred.

It did not occur one time in the previous 141 years before it first happened in the 2018 season. (MLB play began in 1876).

I cannot imagine there are many fans who want to watch a team strikeout 7, 8 or 9 times a game.

The Tampa Bay Rays had the lowest average number of strikeouts this season---7.07 per game.

The Los Angeles Angels had the most---nearly 10 times per game.

2026 MLB Average Team Strikeouts Per Game
Source: https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/strikeouts-per-game

For context, the 1927 New York Yankees averaged 3 strikeouts per game.

30 years ago the Yankees won the World Series averaging 5.6 strikeouts per game in the 1996 season.

In 2026, the Yankees averaged 9.2 strikeouts per game.

Colson Montgomery of the Chicago White Sox struck out a record 227 times this year.

This graphic was posted when he broke the previous MLB season record of 224,

Montgomery hit .197 over 638 plate appearances.

By comparison, Nellie Fox played in the majors for 19 years between 1947 and 1965.

Nellie Fox Topps Baseball Card- 1960

14 of those seasons were with the White Sox.

Fox struck out just 216 times in those 19 years with over 10,000 plate appearances and had a career batting average of .288.

Think about that.

Nellie Fox struck out fewer times in 19 seasons than Colson Montgomery did in just one season.

Here are the average hits per game by team in 2026.

Is it just a coincidence that the two teams that are on the top of this list are playing in the World Series?

2026 MLB Average Team Hits Per Game
Source: https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/hits-per-game

Seeing more strikeouts than hits in baseball is clearly a function of dominant pitching overwhelming the ability of batters.

At one time it was rare that a MLB pitcher could throw a 96 MPH fastball.

Today that type of velocity has become almost necessary to gain a spot on a MLB roster.

Mix that together with very few pitchers who throw more than 100 pitches in a game, and fresh arms being brought into the game in relief, means that hitters are at a distinct disadvantage.

That is also reflected in batting averages.

The 2026 regular season only saw 7 batters in the major leagues with at least a .300 batting average.

By contrast, there were 38 players that hit at least .300 in 2006.

Do you think the following stats may have had something to do with the decreased numbers of .300 hitters over the last 20 years.

Ex-MLB and Cincinnati Reds great Joey Votto suggests we should not expect many batters above the .300 average any more.

Votto says it is just not just exceptional pitching that combines increased velocity and spin rates that have brought down batting averages.

He points to the fact that there is much more emphasis on team defense that has turned former hits into outs.

More batters are also focused on hitting the long ball than being contact hitters,

As a result, the .300 hitter of 20 years ago is now hitting .240 or .250.

Votto calls it the new normal.

The nostalgic memories of the .300 hitter with 30 home runs has been replaced by a .240 hitter with 40 home runs.

Link: https://x.com/MLBNow/status/2102845958862062019

MLB has to decide if it can prosper with a product where we see more strikeouts than hits.

It has shown a willingness to make changes the last few years.

Banning the defensive shift in the infield, the pitch clock, larger bags to promote more steals and the new ABS system that allows challenges to ball and strike calls have all been positives in my view.

What can it do to give batters a better chance to get more hits and fewer strikeouts?

Should the height of the pitching mound be lowered again?

It already was done once before beginning in the 1969 season when the height of the mound was lowered from 15 inches to 10 inches.  The average ERA for pitchers went from 2.98 to 3.61 in one season due to this change.

Should the pitching mound be moved back from the traditional 60'6"?

Should the ABS strike zone be tightened to force more pitches to the center of the plate?

Should a requirement be made to require that the starting pitcher complete a minimum number of innings (eg. 5 or 6 as long as 100 pitches have not been completed) before being replaced? 

Should the definition of a checked swing counting as a strike be changed?

Most of these ideas have been experimented with in the minor leagues with mixed results.

For example, moving the mound back 12 inches did increase hard hit balls and pull rates on fast balls.

However, breaking balls have more room to break at that distance.

I don't know what needs to be done.

However, it seems something has to be done.

I am not interested in watching a game full of more strikeouts than hits.

It also promises to get worse if we see more pitchers like Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Misiorowski started and was the winning pitcher in last night's game 1 of the World Seried for the Brewers.

It was the 12th straight game the Brewers have won when Misiorowski started since August 9. 

Misiorowski's first pitch last night was 103.5 mph.

How do you hit that?

It seems not many of the best hitters in the world have proven that they can.

Therein lies the problem for baseball going forward.