I don't know how many of you follow the Astros - a team that is actually doing good this year after 10 years in the ****s - but a pitcher of theirs has basically pitched a no-hitter. Hes 3 outs away and will certainly get it. I feel like I read about one every other month. Have batters gone soft? Are they trying too hard for HR's?
Man, don't cheapen this with your tired old shtick. They're uncommon enough that this was the first complete game no hitter by an Astros pitcher in over 22 years. Let us enjoy that.
Iwakuma last week. Regardless, baseball is cyclical just like anything else. Pitchers dominate right now. It's still quite rare and an incredible feat.
Iwakuma from the Mariners had a no-hitter this year too, but impressive nonetheless! Man I Love this team!!!! Go Astros!!!
Batting averages are at an all-time low. But like somebody said above, these things are definitely cyclical. I bet we see another multiple-player 50+ HR era at some point in the future as well (but it won't be stupid crazy like the steroid era).
Wow -- turns out I was right. http://espn.go.com/mlb/history/nohitters It is PACKED after 2010. Was extremely rare after that. Something's up, I smell a mystery.
Directly linked to the lack of HGH and steroids. Makes you wonder why take the 90s and 00s into consideration at all. 80s were full of cocaine, so you can throw out that decade as well. 70s had qualludes and orgies, but I wouldn't link those to game performance. If anything, it diminishes it based on my experience.
There are roughly 2430 regular season MLB games a season. That means even in the current "pitcher-era", if there are no more no hitters this season, there will have been a 0.2 % chance of a no hitter for any particular game. The chances of facing the minimum 27 batters and allowing no hits for in 2015 is (1-0.254) to the 27 power or 0.03%. For every batter you face it gets harder. Forget any aspect of how are hitters or the era, and you realize this is not a common or easy feat.
The most ever in a 2 season stretch is '91 & '92 with a total # of 20 no-hitters. The league expanded in '69, '77 and '93 and there are more teams now, thus more games. Also, pitchers are given more rest and are less worked over the course of a season and career. Detailed scouting reports on hitters and ability to shift defenses may come into play as well.
