Yesterday I went to an afternoon Twins-Rockies game with my daughter Morgan at Target Field. Between rainstorms, we got to see a whole lot of offense. 26 runs for both teams.

Yesterday’s 17-9 score is, of course, an anomaly. It is a football score, not a baseball one. Especially this year.

According to all relevant stats, scoring is down league-wide this year. It shows up looking at the numbers of balls in play, home runs, On Base Percentage, everything. There are a lot of statistics that document the problem. and almost as many theories for why this is the case.

From my perspective it comes down to three things:

1. Batters don’t draw enough walks, because they are almost always swinging for the fences because this is what their owner’s data-driven advisers have advised.

2. Batters don’t put enough balls in play. Hence situational hitting is often non-existent. Again, a result of the modern tendency to swing for the fences.

3. The diminished role of the true Starting Pitcher. Yesterday notwithstanding (because of the high number of runs), most batters in 2024 will face more pitchers and more different kinds of pitches and arm angles in a single game than they probably would have seen in a whole series a generation ago. Every inning a different pitcher or pitch.

This pitching problem is compounded when most batters, managers, and organizations seem to be emphasizing power over contact. Home runs over situational hitting.

With all the hitting and runs yesterday, one at-bat in particular stood out for me. It was a bunt single to lead off one of the later innings. (I cannot remember which inning, maybe the 8th?) The player who laid down the bunt was Twins right fielder Manuel Margot.

I love bunting. Especially bunting to get on base. A good bunt in that situation combines both the element of surprise and it tests everyone involved: the batter, the catcher, the pitcher, and the first or third baseman, depending on the direction of the bunt.

Since bunting is largely a lost art today (because of the above lamented swing-for-fence bias of today’s game), good bunts have become the rarest offensive play in baseball. Hence, they have become my favorite play.

26 runs were scored yesterday. 12 pitchers were used. And what I remember today is Margot’s bunt and hanging out with my daughter.

Yes, baseball (like life) is a funny game.