FanPulse respondents believe MLB is intentionally juicing the ball

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Royals fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

Baseball has been full of dongs this year as home runs are being hit at a record rate. There have already been 5,018 home runs hit this year, more than in any season from 2010 to 2015, and the 1.4 home run-per-game would exceed the highest home run rate in any season in MLB history.

What is the cause for all these home runs? Certainly a greater emphasis on home runs and more teams buying into “launch angle” and other analytics is a factor. Greater velocity from pitchers could be another. Small parks and performance-enhancing drugs could be factors as well.

But a lot of signs point to a juiced ball, and even Commissioner Rob Manfred has admitted the ball is a bit different, although he denied the change was intentional.

Our FanPulse respondents aren’t buying it though. This week, our national question to those who signed up for FanPulse asked if they believed MLB intentionally “juiced” the ball this year. And 68 percent of respondents think MLB changed the balls on purpose.

For Royals fans, 62 percent of FanPulse respondents were confident in the direction of the franchise, up from 45 percent last week. The approval rating of manager Ned Yost spiked back up to 61 percent after dropping to 49 percent last week in a temporary dip.

Remember, you can sign up to participate in the FanPulse surveys at this link! Surveys will go out each week and only take a few minutes to complete. Check back next week for more FanPulse results!