The first month of the 2023 MLB season has been one of the most fascinating early campaigns in recent memory.
While our focus has been on the fallout from changes to the rulebook, the competitive aspects of the 2023 season have also been interesting. Is that good or bad? Well, that very much depends upon the team you root for.
If not for the rule changes, the dominant storyline so far might be about competitive inequality.
I track a metric I call "stratification score." Simply put, the higher the score, the more spread out the strength of the teams; the lower the score, the more across-the-board parity exists.