Report: MLB Used Two Different Types of Baseballs Last Year And Didn't Tell Any Of The Players Leading Some To Believe They Were Manipulating Games However They Wanted To

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The big story in baseball is MLB's CBA expiring tonight at 11:59 PM. A lockout is less than 24 hours away as the players union and owners clash over how money is to be divided, amongst lots of other issues. Well, on top of all that, a recent study has been released that should grab every single reader's attention. It may take a little understanding to get on board, but what baseball has potentially been doing with its baseballs in games is BAD.

Back in 2018 Major League Baseball purchased Rawlings, the manufacturer of the baseball used in todays game. In 2019 suspiciously, offense exploded and many (famously Justin Verlander being one) pointed to the ball being 'juiced.' Four clubs broke the record for the most homers hit by a single team in one season. It was painfully obvious what was going on — MLB tinkered with the balls so that offense would go sky high, leading to the common fan's increased enjoyment. Manfred eventually realized he went too far and attempted to reverse everything…or so we thought. 

An astrophysicist by the name of Meredith Wills has been studying baseballs for years, looking for changes that the league has made on the inside. Before the 2021 season began, MLB announced that the baseballs being used for the upcoming year would be altered to a lighter, deadened version that would potentially limit offense.

The story here, however, claims that Major League Baseball used two different kinds of baseballs last season —one where the ball would be bouncy and fly (the old one) and one where it was deadened and go nowhere (the new one). 

Dr. Meredith Wills — a physicist who specializes in sports — dissected and measured a number of baseballs used during the 2021 MLB season. Wills found some of the balls had lighter cores, which MLB promised to use during the 2021 season to curb offense. Others were heavier, and had the same properties as balls used in previous seasons, when the league's home-run rate exploded. (Yahoo Sports)

So what the hell happened? 

Well, MLB claims that because of covid there were production delays with the new balls. To make sure they had enough for the season they went into a batch of the old ones and mixed the two together. They also claim that the league informed the union that two balls were going to be in play for the season. 10 players, including several union reps, were asked about this and none of them had any idea this was happening. 

MLB claims they used old, juiced balls from prior years to make up for the production delays and make sure MLB had enough for the season. Dr. Meredith Wills knows for a fact that the old, juiced version were being made as late as August of 2021 and being used in games. She also knows that the "newer", lighter version planned for the 2021 season were being used as early as October of 2019. You can tell on the inside of a baseball when exactly it was made. Wills caught Manfred and his clowns right in the middle of their lie. Not great Rob!

Ever wonder why the Yankees-Red Sox series in London had that insane explosion of offense? How about the Field of Dreams game this past year where everything left the park? Even the Yankees-Mets series 9/11 series where Lindor and Stanton were hitting anything and everything out? It's almost like ever since Major League Baseball acquired Rawlings back in 2018 they've been fucking with the sport and manipulating offense however they see fit. Big games with lots of attention on them? Lets bring in the bouncy balls and watch everyone hit them out of the stadium. Oh wait, that's exactly what's been happening except it's far worse than we thought. Here's what one of the players in the article speculated

"You know, send a bouncier baseball, lighter baseball — whichever flies more — to a primetime series," he told me, listing off marquee matchups like Yankees-Red Sox and Mets-Phillies. "Then," he suggested, send more dead baseballs to "Texas versus Seattle. Or, you know, Detroit versus Kansas City. No one's going to bat an eye."

Wait, so Pete Alonso was right?

That crazy son of a bitch and his conspiracies over in Queens might actually have been onto something when he accused MLB of fucking with baseballs based on certain free agent classes that were coming up. 

The cat is completely out of the bag now. Obviously there's no way to tell how deep this goes, but Pete was 100% onto something here and not just speaking nonsense like some thought he was. 

The corruption within baseball might be greater than we ever thought of. Who knows how they could be manipulating a team, a series or even something as microscopic as a series of at bats in a game. You could completely change the outcome of a game based on which balls were being used. It's very clear the old balls weren't being mixed in as a desperation, but instead more as a desire. And again, no players knew about this. That's a big fucking problem. 

Wanna know where this gets even more serious? Major League Baseball is now heavily involved with gambling. There are sponsorships left and right, everywhere you look. You get allegations of deploying certain types of baseballs to affect certain outcomes of games? I "joke" about how Rob Manfred belongs in prison based on how he handled the Astros scandal, but if this is as bad as it seems that man actually belongs behind bars. The article references the commissioner of Japan's top pro league stepping down in 2013 after admitting they messed with balls to create more home runs and didn't tell the players. Clearly there's worse stuff going on over here. Off you go Rob, enjoy prison. 

A pitcher not knowing if he's holding the home run ball or the one that goes nowhere is a joke in itself. There should be one ball year in and year out with no questions asked. Imagine if in the NBA there wasn't one uniform ball to be used in every game? You could see 140-135 with one and 87-86 with another. Of course not, that would be a major fucking problem. The fact that MLB owns Rawlings is such an issue. They can basically do whatever they want and get away with it unless someone like Dr. Wills comes along and exposes the whole thing like she did here.