What’s a few more strikeouts among friends?

As the weeks and the months and seasons march on, the strikeouts just go up and up and up some more. But they go up gradually, and from season to season you might not even notice that anything’s changing. Especially if you’re not in the habit of turning baseball statistics into Excel files.

Eventually, though, I think something has to give. And spreadsheets won’t do it. People don’t respond to spreadsheets. People respond to earthquakes, and lurid news stories about pretty white girls, and looming financial catastrophes. People respond to events. And look, here’s an event!

No, 42 strikeouts in 27 innings won’t send Bud Selig scurrying to his Double Secret Switchboard, from where he can convince the Lords of Baseball to try something, anything, to slow the growth of Three True Outcomes Baseball. This is just one event. But there will be others. And eventually, when we’ve seen a few dozen more four-hour games and near no-hitters in October and entire games when the infielders have nothing to do except play around-the-horn after strikeouts, Commissioner Bud’s successor will limber up the old switchboard and get to work.

It’s time. It’s past time, actually, to fix our pastime. But it’s never too late.