Viewership + Excitement

- The MLB is in the midst of a 12-year decline in annual overall attendance and and saw TV ratings shrink -- until 2019. 

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- The home run is one of the most exciting aspects of the game, and fans tune in to watch them.

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Ratings and Financial Gains

- Pitchers were dominating the sport in 2014 and many speculate that the ball was changed to accommodate to help batters.

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- The 2019 MLB season featured increased TV and digital viewership and growing participation in baseball and softball.

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- League revenue topped $10 billion in 2018 and is up more than 70 percent from a decade ago in 2019.

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OUR FINDINGS

PITCHERS:

- Higher fastball usage has resulted in more home runs in 2019 comparatively to 2017 and 2018, especially among those with <150 innings pitched (Starters).(11.8% ↑ between 2017 and 2019) 

- The curve ball and sinker are the only two pitches with consistently less home runs hit against them the more frequently they are pitched.

(More Curveball = ↓ 7.7% HRs, More Sinker = ↓ 6.5% Hrs)

- Curve ball and sinker saw less usage among pitchers with 150+ innings (Starters) 

(Curve = ↓ 1.49%, Sinker = ↓ 5.25%) while fastball usage has gone up (Fastball = ↑ 2.23%)

- Slider (↑2.72%) and changeup (↑1.71%) usage up among pitchers with <150 innings pitched (Non-starters).

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BATTERS:

- There has been an increase in average breaking balls and off speed pitches to batters with more than 250 plate appearances in a season.(Breaking:↑ 3.79%, Off speed:↑ 6.70%)

- Batters with more than 250 PAs averaged 18.56 HRs in 2019, ↑ 2.84 HRs/player from the previous year

- Batters with more than 250 PAs are increasing their home run percentage most against the fastball. (66.1 fastballs/HR in 2017 and 57.7 fastballs/HR in 2019, a change of 15.6%)

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