During the Major League all-star game, there were comments made referring to this season as the Year of the Pitcher.
It's because some of the stats recorded in the first half have been truly impressive, starting with Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez racking up 15 wins.
Other hurlers having a great first half; Tampa's David Price; the Cardinals Adam Wainwright and Florida's Josh Johnson. Two-time Cy Young champ Tim Lincecum of the Giants is also putting up good numbers again, and of course there is Washington's new phenom Stephen Strasburg.
It could end up being one of the best years for starting pitchers in many seasons.
But how does it compare to 1968, the original Year of the Pitcher?
Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won 31 games for the eventual World Series champions, the first to do so since Dizzy Dean did it for St. Louis in 1934. No one has come closer than 27 wins since.
Over in the National League, St. Louis Cardinals starter Bob Gibson had one of the greatest seasons of his Hall of Fame career, setting the modern day record with an ERA of 1.12.
Other great hurlers who put up super numbers in '68 include San Francisco's Juan Marichal, Cleveland's Luis Tiant, Baltimore's Dave McNally, and Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who set a record, tossing 58 consecutive scoreless innings, a mark beaten decades later by fellow Dodger Orel Hershiser.
The summer of 1968 was also marked by one of the most anemic offensive years in the modern game. For example Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox led the American League in batting at a paltry .301.
That is not the case this season, as several players are having super seasons at the dish. And several teams are on track to score 800 runs. But, at this point of the summer, it looks as if this year will see the pendulum swing back in favour of pitchers, and that hasn't been the case for some time.
