“The aerodynamic properties of the ball have changed, allowing it to carry farther,” said committee chairman Alan Nathan, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But the panel, which includes professors specializing in physics, mechanical engineering, statistics and mathematics, struck out trying to pinpoint the cause. As for what caused of the change in aerodynamic properties, it remains baseball’s great mystery, the sport’s equivalent of the search for the Loch Ness Monster. So all four of those things point to the fact that it’s the aerodynamic properties of the ball that have changed. The group tested 15 dozen unused balls from 2013-17 and 22 dozen game-used balls from 2012-17.

Source: National Post May 24, 2018 18:45 UTC