This was supposed to be the year that pitchers got their groove back, restoring the balance of power that had become weighted so heavily in favor of the behemoths with a stick in their hands. Baseball will never admit it, but the mandated enforcement of the strike zone's upper end was designed, in part, to rectify the runaway offense that threatened to cheapen both individual records and career statistics. On the surface, it has done precisely what it's supposed to. Runs are down throughout baseball, and so are home runs and walks.
Strikeouts are up.
That's the cumulative effect. The startling aberration, however, is that staggering individual achievements haven't slowed down one bit. Indeed, as in recent seasons, virtually every significant offensive record is under assault as the season moves past the one-quarter mark. No player has hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941. Ramirez is on pace to drive in 202 runs, which would shatter Hack Wilson's record of 191 runs batted in in 1930.