The 2021 major league baseball season is only about one-quarter over. Yet there have been five no-hitters so far, whereas the whole season average is about two. The overall major league batting average so far this year is only .236, the lowest it has been since .237 in 1968. 1968 was dubbed "the year of the pitcher" for the weak hitting (link). As a result the pitcher's mound was lowered and the size of the strike zone was reduced for 1969.
The number of home runs per team game has not fallen to 1968's 0.61. The overall major league number of home runs per team game this year is 1.14. That is less than the previous two years (1.28 and 1.39) but still well above what it was 2010-15 (range 0.86 to 1.02). Strikeouts are up slightly, 8.97 per team game. This number exceeded 7.0 for the first time in 2010. It exceeded 8.0 for the first time in 2016 and has remained there.
What's going on? It seem that hitters are trying to swing for home runs more and more. I saw it claimed the lower batting average is mainly due to fewer singles, not fewer extra base hits. The stats I see here don't clearly support that. Extra-base hits have fallen about as much. The number of singles per team game is 5.05 this year. That is about the same as last year (a shortened season due to the pandemic) but less than 2019's 5.34. The statistic has fallen steadily since 2008's 6.02. The number of runs scored per team game is 4.36, down from 4.65 last year and 4.83 in 2019. Runs batted in (RBIs) per team game is 4.13, down from 4.44 last year and 4.63 in 2019. On the other hand, pitchers may have gotten better. The overall average ERA is down and strikeouts per team game are up.
Update 5/20: Corey Kluber pitched the 6th no-hitter of the year yesterday.
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