Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander thinks the MLB has changed the baseballs to generate more scoring.
He told ESPN that he “100 percent” thinks the league has juiced the balls, and points to the fact they’ve done it in the home run derby as proof the MLB knows how to do it. As pointed out by ESPN and Verlander, the MLB currently owns the company producing the balls for the league. (RELATED: Women Get Into Insane Brawl During Chicago Cubs Game In Viral Video)
Verlander, who has given up 26 home runs this season so far, explained to ESPN the following Monday about his belief the balls are juiced:
Major League Baseball’s turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings, and you’ve got Manfred up here saying it might be the way they center the pill. They own the f—ing company. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company and the product changed dramatically, it’s not a guess as to what happened. We all know what happened. Manfred the first time he came in, what’d he say? He said we want more offense. All of a sudden he comes in, the balls are juiced? It’s not coincidence. We’re not idiots.
I’m all about chaos and having one of the best pitchers in the game flaming the league for allegedly juicing balls is what I’m all about.
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Personally, I really couldn’t care less if the balls are juiced or not. It’s just like a lot of people don’t care if players are using steroids.
The fans want to see home runs and plenty of action. The baseball purists are absolutely in the minority. Most fans want to watch homers get crushed as often as possible.
I have no doubt the MLB would do whatever it took to get that job done. If that would mean juicing up some baseballs, then so be it. You won’t hear much complaining from most fans.
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Now, as a pitcher, I absolutely understand why that would piss you off. The first people to get screwed by juiced balls would be the people slinging them over home plate.
Of course, don’t expect the MLB to rush out and announce that Verlander is correct. That wouldn’t exactly be a great look.
The MLB is a business, and it exists to entertain people. Low scoring games aren’t really entertaining to anybody. The fans want action, and that all begins and ends with home runs.
Verlander might hate it, but most people certainly don’t.