Sun lotion and curveballs: Why MLB is gripped by dubious ‘foreign substances’

Pitchers have always bent the rules to make their pitches harder to hit. But this season, with batters struggling, the authorities are starting to crack down

It's a good time to be a pitcher in Major League Baseball: they are enjoying their most dominant season since 1968, which baseball historians refer to as The Year of the Pitcher". And it's all the more welcome for the pitchers as they've spent the last few years being brutalized by the game's sluggers. It may not last though. According to ESPN, MLB is expected to issue a memo detailing revised enforcement and penalties, forcing a reckoning with one of the league's primary don't-ask-don't-tell" rules.