Stick stuff games

Either the most egregious offenders have come up with a way to conceal Spider Tack from the umps, or not that many pitchers were abusing it in the first place.

Thus, the leaguewide reduction in spin, while widespread, has been a little less precipitous than some estimations of the state of sticky-stuff usage might have had one believe.

Of course, spin is mostly a means to an end, and we pay attention to it only inasmuch as it produces different outcomes. And Gerrit Cole and Lucas Giolito, who weeks ago found themselves at the centers of scrutiny surrounding their diminished spin rates, seemed to struggle initially but have been brilliant their last two times out. What we can say for certain is that ultra-high-spin pitches have gotten much more scarce: Offerings with spin rates of RPM or more have made up only 5.

To get a feel for the full impact, we have to look at the league on a collective level. Since spin rates started receding, offense has increased considerably—but so have temperatures across the United States, a confounding factor that always juices scoring as the season wears on.

The first table below lists several leaguewide offensive stats and average game-time temperatures for a few portions of this season: through June 3, June 4 through June 20, through June 20, since June 4, and since June Focus on the two rows in bold at the bottom, which show the changes in each metric through and after June 3 and through and after June The second table shows the same breakdowns for the four preceding full seasons through combined.

But these stats supply some evidence that doing away with sticky stuff has helped hitters. The shape of the performance change might be more interesting than the modest magnitude. The most salient single stat is the strikeout rate, which fell a full percentage point after June 20 and also after June 3.

Thanks in part to that possibly spin-reduction-driven change, non-pitchers have struck out less often this season than they did last year. So far, the absence of sticky stuff also seems to have hiked another defense-independent outcome: the hit by pitch. Although hit by pitches were less frequent from June 4 through June 20 than they had been before, they became more common after inspections started.

However, hit by pitch rates were already at or around an all-time high , so any further surge in plunkings would be unwelcome. In mid-June, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow pinned part of the blame for his flexor strain and partially torn UCL on giving up sunscreen and rosin, and there was reason to think he had a point. The concern now is whether the heightened fatigue that can come from gripping a ball harder to compensate for less sticky stuff could take a toll later in the season.

If we squint, we can find other indicators of a post-sticky-stuff effect. Movement on some pitches particularly four-seamers may be slightly down. The whiff-per-swing rate on four-seamers has dropped by 1. Perhaps that helps explain why sinker usage is slightly up. Because the reality of baseball without pitchers applying foreign substances is less intriguing than the speculation leading up to the crackdown, the subject of sticky stuff has largely fallen off the radar in less than a month.

Amid the uproar and predictions of additional drama , Commissioner Rob Manfred maintained that the fuss would soon settle down, and it did.

On June 23, author Brendan Donley started the StickyCheck Twitter account to document and capitalize on the viral visits from umps. In light of the above, allow me to present a unified theory of baseball rule-breaking: Cheating is overrated.

Not because guilt prevents cheaters from enjoying their ill-gotten gains, but because those gains are generally smaller than the cheaters and the cheated believe.

The Braves broke international signing rules to add teenaged talent to their organization, and none of the prospects they signed and subsequently lost look like standouts today.

Even steroids, which certainly benefited some players, likely had little to no effect on others. The irony of all of this is that the cheaters are so often naturally great. Maybe the same passion and competitiveness that push elite players to train hard also make them more likely to seek out edges that go against the rules. Maybe teams on the brink of victory are more likely to look for any help over the hump. But Barry Bonds was an all-time great even when he was clean.

The Astros were and are excellent hitters. None of them had to hurt others, or their own reputations, to get good. The better they do that, the less of a story sticky stuff will be. And your stick men enemies' jaws will drop to the floor because they won't be attached to their heads! One thing's for sure, come on over to Stickgames. Selecting stick games is serious business, and on Stickgames. And one of the cool things about Stickgames.

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