Just over a month into the 2022 Major League Baseball season, unfortunately, one of the biggest stories to this point has been the ball. The actual, physical orb we have long called a baseball is a discussion point, and mostly a negative one. 

Here at CBS Sports, Mike Axisa and Dayn Perry did a deep dive on the problems, concerns and discussion points. Basically, there have been inconsistencies as the balls go between "juiced" and "deadened." While most of us are just begging for some consistency, they might be too dead now. 

For example, the league batting average is .233. That would be lowest in recorded MLB history. The league slugging percentage is .371, which would be the lowest since 1981. Teams are scoring an average of 4.06 runs per game, which, again, would be the lowest since 1981. 

Excellent pitching is obviously part of the equation, as would be much better defense (and this includes, but isn't limited to, alignment). Still, we've seen plenty of balls die on the warning track that looked like home runs, so the eye test says the ball is part of it. 

"The change we made in '21 was intended to, and did, have the effect of centering the baseball in the range of specifications much more tightly," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said, via The New York Times.