Since Opening Day on March 28, much has been said and written about a perceived but yet-to-be-proven difference in the baseballs being used in Major League Baseball and in Triple-A this season. The reason, of course, is the (very) significant increase in home runs at professional baseballs’ two highest levels.

To this, I say “poppycock!”

Oh sure, if you are a fan of high win totals, low ERAs, shutouts, and the nearly-extinct complete game, you are undoubtedly among those rallying for a full-blown congressional investigation into the sudden ‘came-out-of-nowhere’ increase in taters, as home runs are often called.

But most fans – including this one – are in Cody Bellinger‘s camp on this whole ‘juiced ball’ thing.

“I think they’re perfectly fine the way they are,” said the soon-to-be (on July 13) 24-year-old Dodgers All-Star outfielder / first baseman while mic’d up during Tuesday’s 90th annual Midsummer Classic at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Without missing a beat, Bellinger’s nearest competition for 2019 National League MVP honors – also mic’d up Brewers outfielder (and defending NL MVP) Christian Yelich – agreed wholeheartedly:

“Yeah, me too,” Yelich said with a chuckle in his voice. “I’m not a scientist so I’m just trying to hit the thing and whatever it does, it does.

“I’m with Cody on that one, I think all of us hitters are fine with right where they’re at, right where they’re at,” the 27-year-old Thousand Oaks, CA native added, while being rudely interrupted by the always-annoying Joe Buck.

All of this juiced-ball hubbub is the result of Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander whining about all of the home runs being hit across all of baseball this season, including the MLB-leading 26 home runs that he has allowed this season (a clue).

“It’s a f***ing joke. Major League Baseball’s turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings, and you’ve got Manfred up here saying it might be the way they center the pill,” said an obviously annoyed (and classless) Verlander on Monday. “They own the f***ing company. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company and the product changed dramatically, it’s not a guess as to what happened.

“We all know what happened. Manfred the first time he came in, what’d he say? He said we want more offense. All of a sudden he comes in, the balls are juiced? It’s not coincidence. We’re not idiots.”

Asked if he honestly believed the balls were intentionally juiced by the league, Verlander left nothing to the imagination.

“Yes, one hundred percent,” he answered. “They’ve been using juiced balls in the Home Run Derby forever. They know how to do it. It’s not coincidence. I find it really hard to believe that Major League Baseball owns Rawlings and just coincidentally the balls become juiced.”

Prior to Tuesday’s All-Star Game and as you would expect, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred debunked Verlander’s obscenity-filled juiced-ball allegations.

“Baseball has done nothing, given no direction for an alteration in the baseball,” Manfred told reporters. “The flaw in logic is that baseball wants more home runs. If you sat in owners meetings and listen to people on how the game is played, that is not a sentiment among the owners for whom I work.”

Then again, just this past Monday, Manfred had this to say to reporters:

“It’s easy to get carried away with ‘you have too many home runs.’ Let’s not forget that our fan data suggests fans like home runs. It’s not the worst thing in the world.”

There you have it … clear as tomato juice.

Play Ball!

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