Major League Baseball has reached a point where seeing a no-hitter is as special as seeing a team score a run.
Watching six Seattle Mariners pitchers combine to hold the Los Angeles Dodgers to no hits and three walks on Friday night, I was reminded of the late 1990s, when we would see hitters make the most impossible things look elementary.
Like the offensive era—or steroid era, if that’s what you prefer to call it—that baseball is clearly past, the new pitching era has taken something away from the allure of seeing a no-hitter. In the ’90s, home runs were so commonplace, it was a shock if you didn’t see at least one in a game.
In today’s game, we are teased by the threat of a no-hitter on a nightly basis. Every time you turn the television to watch baseball, odds are good you are going to see a cut-in to show some pitcher going for a no-hitter.
This year alone, there have been four no-hitters—by Philip Humber (a perfect game), Jered Weaver, Johan Santana and Seattle’s staff. Going back to 2010, there have been 13.
Speaking strictly as a baseball fan, hearing that there is even the threat of a no-hitter does not have nearly the same effect it once did. I will still tune in to see if it happens. But when it is over, it doesn’t feel special.
Watching all of these no-hitters is a lot like watching a great movie over and over again. You know that what you are watching is special, but it doesn’t leave you with the same feeling it once did.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that pitching in baseball has ever been better. The velocity that we are seeing from these pitchers is remarkable, and the ability to sustain it over multiple seasons is even more impressive.
But all this great pitching comes at a price. A no-hitter is no longer the must-see spectacle that it once was. It is just like watching any other game on any other day.
Congratulations go out to the Mariners for their accomplishment, but it doesn’t feel as special as it should.
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