So let me begin this week by issuing a disclaimer.

I have spent most of this baseball season watching the Red Sox, which has probably

traumatized me on some level because their offense sucks.

They're brutal to watch.

The Red Sox are a bad team to watch.

And by all accounts, viewing numbers of Major

League Baseball this year have actually gone up. Nonetheless, I think the Red Sox are indicative

of a global problem in Major League Baseball, which is that the offense in the game really

isn't getting any better. It remains the number one issue in the sport. And it's leading to all kinds of problems around the game really isn't getting any better. It remains the number one issue in the sport,

and it's leading to all kinds of problems around the game.

So earlier in the season,

I went over to Fenway Park for the home opener.

Alex Kor was conducting his standard pregame press conference,

and I asked him a question about the number of strikeouts or number of times

the Red Sox had struck out earlier in the year and whether or not they could combat the

problem. In that process, Duke Castiglione of WCB, TB, TB here in Boston and ABC affiliate,

asked Cora about how difficult it is to hit in Major League Baseball now with

the preponderance of strikeouts, et cetera.

Cora gave an interesting answer.

Let me just say quickly that a couple of these cuts I'm going to play for you today are

a little bit longer in length.

This one is the longest.

...