Pitchers have been using all manner of sticky substances to improve grip and enhance their stuff for as long as baseball has been around, but things have come to a head this season. As Buster Olney reported last week for ESPN, Major League Baseball is finalizing plans for stricter enforcement of its foreign-substance rules that will see all pitchers checked “repeatedly and randomly” rather than waiting for a team to lodge a complaint.
This stems largely from MLB’s offensive stagnation, but it’s also a matter of fans becoming more aware of pitchers’ dominance. Social media accounts like Pitching Ninja highlight the absolute filth being spun, making viewers wonder how anyone ever gets a hit.