SPECULATOR: Wild things—You make my heart sing?

BaseballHQ.com writers have written from time to time about the changing statistical landscape of MLB, and how it affects our own game play. As the pendulum of pitcher vs. hitter has swung in favor of the pitcher in recent years, the most pronounced effects among the rotisserie categories for pitchers has been in the strikeouts category.

The strikeout trend

Consider these MLB trends for the past few years:

Year     MLB k/9
====     =======
2007       6.7
2008       6.8
2009       7.0
2010       7.1
2011       7.1
2012       7.6
2013*      7.6

* - through June 10

In fantasy terms, this effect is unique among the standard pitching categories. Consider:

  • the number of wins available from the MLB stat pool is virtually unchanged...

Almost!

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