Darrell Davis: Baseball should slow the long-ball onslaught

Home runs are boring.

A hit-and-run is more entertaining; a stolen base or a squeeze play. Maybe somebody stretching a single into a double, or nimble middle infielders turning a double play. A starting pitcher working a shutout into the ninth inning.

Major League Baseball just reveled in its All-Star Break, starting with the Home Run Derby, dominated by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., won by Pete Alonso. Justin Verlander, the American League’s starting pitcher, used the break to rail against MLB’s focus on the long ball. Verlander insists the baseballs are juiced, as ordered by baseball’s team owners who want more dingers. Big-league hitters are on pace to hit almost 6,700 homers this season, about 600 more than the record set in 2017.

The best thing to come out of this controversy was the response from Commissioner Rob Manfred. In addition to insisting the baseballs haven’t been tampered with, Manfred said his bosses — the owners — are concerned with the increasing number of homers being hit. Now they need to do something about it.