Most of the trends in these pitching charts are easy to understand:
ERA and WHIP since 1960
It’s easy to see the Year of the Pitcher in 1968, the recovery as baseball adjusted the pitching mound, the sudden increase during the Steroid Years, and the recent crash in offense partially associated with the increase in the size of the strike zone.
But there’s an a abrupt drop in WHIP and (to a lesser extent) ERA between 2000 and 2001, and I don’t know of any rule change, or other change in the game, that would drive that. Steroids were still winked at, offense remained at a very high level, the strike zone wasn’t officially changed — what happened?
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