The 2019 MLB regular season is officially over, and there were a lot of top headlines throughout the season.

The biggest headline of the entire season might have been the juiced ball controversy. Over 6,700 home runs were hit in 2019, and over half the league broke franchise home run records, as well as many players breaking their own personal records. Players and fans alike blame this on commissioner Rob Manfred purposely “juicing” the balls to make them fly farther. However, there has been no evidence of this, nor has there been any official tests conducted on the balls to investigate further. 

“I think the 2019 MLB season was pretty good. It had a lot of upside and a lot of home run records broken. I think it made for a really exciting season overall. Most people did not like the juiced ball with the amount of home runs, but I thought it made the games more exciting,” senior Noah Marnett said.

2019 was also the year of the strikeout, much like the homerun. Many players broke personal strikeout records, and a few teams broke their franchise records. Two pitchers also joined the 3000 strikeout club, becoming the 17th and 18th pitchers to do so. Yankees lefty CC Sabathia was the 17th, hitting 3,000 on April 30 when he struck out Diamondbacks catcher John Ryan Murphy for number 3,000. Justin Verlander was the 18th, and he got his 3000th strikeout on September 28th. He struck out Angels outfielder Kole Calhoun to reach the mark. 

“Justin Verlander just keeps getting better and better; it’s rather impressive. I am interested to see how far along he gets in strikeouts over the rest of his career,” senior Tommy Flores said. 

However, like most things, not everything about the 2019 season was successful as the previous two. Two active players passed away during the season. On July 2, Angels left handed pitcher Tyler Skaggs was found unresponsive in his hotel, and was eventually pronounced dead on the scene. Two months later, Tigers minor league catcher Chace Numata passed away in the hospital after a skateboarding incident that put him into a coma. 

Back on the brighter side, there were also four no hitters this season, each of which thrown by AL West teams. The Athletics Mike Fiers tossed one; Verlander did as well. The Angels threw a combined no hitter on the first game at home after Skaggs death, when all players were wearing his jersey. The Astros also threw a combined no hitter on August 3rd. 

There were also six cycles, as Jonathan Villar, Shohei Ohtani, Cavan Biggio, Trea Turner, Jake Bauers and Jorge Polanco each earned that feat throughout 2019.