SAN DIEGO -- Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged the game's rising home run numbers Tuesday, but expressed confidence that they're not a product of juiced players or juiced baseballs.
Each MLB team is averaging 1.16 home runs per game this season -- the highest home run rate since the average of 1.17 per game during the height of the steroid era in 2000. The home run rate, which ebbed at 0.86 per game in 2014, began to spike during the second half of last season, but Manfred said MLB has no reason to think the rising power numbers are a product of increased steroid use.