Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball?

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Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#1 » by Dr Positivity » Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:38 pm

I mean 2017 hit 450 more home runs than the record set in the PED era. Not just a one year fluke since last year just missed the record. Is there an explanation for this beyond the obvious? Believing that clean 2017 hitters can destroy the HR record set by juicers is like thinking a clean Lance Armstrong was dominating a field full of juicers.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#2 » by trwi7 » Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:08 pm

Juiced ball
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#3 » by tocooks101 » Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:32 pm

Ball has been juiced
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#4 » by Dr Positivity » Tue May 15, 2018 6:58 pm

Robinson Cano caught juicing. It begins
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#5 » by smallgains » Thu May 17, 2018 2:43 pm

What kind of testing does mlb have? Do they have true random, unannounced, in and out of season testing? If not, then people will beat the testing.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#6 » by Pacers_Freak » Thu May 17, 2018 3:40 pm

I'm good at pretending. I pretend my wife looks like Kate Upton.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#7 » by davidavydave » Wed May 23, 2018 9:59 pm

Goes both ways. Record number homeruns AND Record number of strikeouts.

But I firmly believe juicing is GREAT for baseball. WAYYYYY more entertaining, let's just be real. I understand purists and baseball traditionalists will think it's ruining the "integrity" of the game, but screw that old school way of thinking. I want to see someone hit 100 home runs in a season. I want to see someone strikeout 500 times in a season.

The Roids era was by far the most fascinating, entertaining time in baseball. I hope we're somehow getting back to that. I applaud Robinson Cano lol.

I'm kidding....but not really.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#8 » by Pro-Am40 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 11:29 pm

I think it's a bit of both, juiced ball and some players are still taking PED's!
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#9 » by Pro-Am40 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 11:30 pm

It's all about the $$$$! Keeping buts in seats!
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#10 » by rarjake » Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:56 pm

So you think its some vast conspiracy with MLB holding back positive test results?
I think could be due to a number of things, the main one is the players approach. Players are not getting those line drive singles/doubles anymore due to the defensive shifts. They would rather focus on launch angle, and hitting it over the shift out of the park.
The "juiced ball" maybe playing a minor role, however there was a study released a few months ago where it had questionable results
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#11 » by RoundMound » Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:33 pm

I see more pitchers hitting 100 mph today than ever before and I don't think that a juiced ball will make a pitched ball go faster.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#12 » by rarjake » Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:18 am

There have been a couple studies on the ball, that say there is something to that argument, but they can't pinpoint why.
I think its more to do with the approach hitters are taking now. With the advanced metrics, defensive shifts, players are more focused on ever on power, and not hitting for average. You can have a great approach at the plate, but if you line out each time not much worth to it. It's what makes what Trout is doing in this age even more impressive. To hit for a high average, and have power is incredible.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#13 » by Dominator83 » Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:25 am

PEDs are not BACK in baseball............They never left :)
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#14 » by jason bourne » Mon Aug 13, 2018 2:10 am

Dr Positivity wrote:I mean 2017 hit 450 more home runs than the record set in the PED era. Not just a one year fluke since last year just missed the record. Is there an explanation for this beyond the obvious? Believing that clean 2017 hitters can destroy the HR record set by juicers is like thinking a clean Lance Armstrong was dominating a field full of juicers.


The home runs argument is probably due to a juiced ball. This has been done in the past and not cheating.

It could be that the PEDs peddlers are better at disguising its use today, so the players are cheating en masse for the big pay day and because they know that others are using and it's not a level playing field.

Of is today's testing more advanced, too? Has the detection technology kept up with what the PEDs peddlers are doing?

In other words, do you have any evidence or articles to support increase in PEDs usage?
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#15 » by the_process » Thu Aug 23, 2018 12:58 pm

There are more players hitting 20+ HR’s than before... but the top end is cut off. You’re not constantly seeing the leaders hit 50, 60, 70. So it’s a balance and I don’t think because the total is higher that it means juicing is again wide spread. But of course some guys are still doing it. Always will.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#16 » by Dr Positivity » Sat Oct 6, 2018 6:44 am

the_process wrote:There are more players hitting 20+ HR’s than before... but the top end is cut off. You’re not constantly seeing the leaders hit 50, 60, 70. So it’s a balance and I don’t think because the total is higher that it means juicing is again wide spread. But of course some guys are still doing it. Always will.


To make a comparison HR seasons over 50 from 1999-2001:
99 - McGwire (65), Sosa (63)
00 - Sosa (50)
01 - Bonds (73), Sosa (64), Gonzalez (57), ARod (52)

From 2016-2018 you had Stanton (59) and Judge (52) in 2017. So it is indeed less. But the difference comes down to a few guys in McGwire, Sosa and Bonds. They could just be outliers for HR hitting upside. Or the PEDs they took back then allowed someone to go full Hulk while in modern day with people being suspicious it's not quite as easy.

I will say 2018 was not as crazy as 2017 in HR stats, either in total or with the leaders. With that said 2016-2018 is still a higher home run hitting era than 1999-2001 which is very suspicious. 2016, 2017 and 2018 are 3 of the top 4 home run hitting seasons in history. But especially I still just have a hard time accepting how much higher 2017 HR rate is than the biggest juicing seasons without it being PEDs. 2017 DESTROYED the home run records.

The increase in home runs by 2016 and 2017 vs 2010-2015 was almost equally dramatic as the increase in 3pt shooting in the NBA in that time. While 2014 is a low and 2017 is a high, 2017 hits 45% more home runs than 2014 which seems enormous, they didn't invent SLG% and the shift in 2015. Since 2018 home runs went down and 3pt shooting went up yet again, the jump in 3pt shooting in NBA is now getting more extreme than home runs though.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#17 » by Dr Positivity » Wed Jul 3, 2019 4:15 am

After a dip last season, 2019 is now setting by far the home runs per game mark. PEDs all the way
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#18 » by jason bourne » Mon Jul 8, 2019 6:34 am

I dunno. MLB is saying it isn't PEDs and they have drastically increased testing. The give the reason for the increase as "A change in hitting philosophy is causing this boom more than anything. Get the barrel in the zone early, hit the bottom third of the ball, generate a launch angle between 23 and 28 degrees."
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#19 » by agkagk » Thu Jul 25, 2019 3:28 am

I read an article about five years back that big fat Bartolo colon credited his sudden resurgence to getting regular stem cell treatments in some Latin American country where they are legal.

Once I read that, and knowing how competitive athletes are.... you can finish the thought.
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Re: Are we just going to pretend PEDs aren't back in baseball? 

Post#20 » by Dr Positivity » Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:21 am

I think I'm starting to believe juiced ball theory now. https://twitter.com/juicedballexpo1

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