Average attendance has dropped four years in a row for the first time since the commissioner's office started keeping track.
An unprecedented four teams won 100 games in the same season.Amid widespread claims the baseballs have changed, hitters shattered the home run record for the second time in three seasons. And sparked by batters going for the fences to beat suffocating shifts, strikeouts set a record for the 12th year in a row and outnumbered hits for the second straight season.
"We have some of the most remarkably talented players our game has seen as a whole in a long time," union head Tony Clark said."But the willful failure of too many franchises to field competitive teams and put their best players on the field is unquestionably hurting our industry." Houston , the Los Angeles Dodgers , the New York Yankees and Minnesota all reached the century mark. It's the third consecutive year three teams have reached 100 — before this run it occurred only in 1942, 1977, 1998, 2002 and 2003.
"Each free agent market is a little bit different, but what we have seen that seems to be consistent over these last two markets is this all-in and all-out mentality," Clark said.Tampa Bay, last in payroll at $66 million, has a chance to make the playoffs along with Oakland, 25th at $95 million. Three of the six highest payrolls failed to reach the postseason: No. 1 Boston , the No. 3 Chicago Cubs and No. 6 San Francisco .
And 23 pitchers had 200 or more strikeouts, topping the post-1900 record of 18 in both 2015 and last year, Elias said.
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