Yankees-Dodgers home run derby has fans going full conspiracy theory

Friday brought the most anticipated game of the 2025 MLB season to date, as the New York Yankees traveled to Chavez Ravine for a World Series rematch against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And it didn't take long for it to live up to the billing: Aaron Judge went yard in the game's second at-bat.

And then, not to be outdone, Shohei Ohtani followed suit on the very first pitch of the bottom half.

The sport's two best hitters, both going deep before everyone had even gotten to their seats. But that was just the beginning of the fireworks: There were five homers just in the first three innings of this game, with Austin Wells, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt all going yard to help New York build an early 5-2 lead.

Two massive media markets? Check. The game's two biggest stars? Check. A slew of highlight-reel plays? Check. Rob Manfred himself could hardly have written a more perfect opening script for the most significant game of the year. In fact, maybe the script was a little too perfect — and baseball fans couldn't help but take notice.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Yankees-Dodgers homer barrage has fans wondering if the ball is juiced again

Allegations that MLB was "juicing" its baseballs in order to increase offense first picked up steam in the late 2010s, amid a resurgence in home runs around the league. Manfred himself more or less confirmed the theory at the 2019 All-Star Game, admitting that "our scientists that have been now studying the baseball more regularly have told us that this year the baseball has a little less drag."

As the years went by and MLB revamped its production process and the pendulum swung back in favor of pitchers, the fervor all but died away. But all it took was a rash of suspiciously effortless homers between the league's two richest franchises in order to make everybody a believer again.

Is it likely that MLB saw to it that unique balls found their way to Dodger Stadium ahead of this weekend? Not really. Then again, when you've already been proven to have tinkered with the baseballs previously — and when a certain kind of baseball already found its way to Judge and the Yankees during his chase for the AL home run record back in 2022 — you've forfeited the benefit of the doubt.

This is a perception problem more than anything. Manfred is a figure that fans have never been able to trust, both because he has a hard time communicating clearly and effectively and also because he has a habit of doing some head-scratching stuff. Overall, it gives the impression that the league is making things up as they go along and doesn't have any qualms about putting its thumb on the scale. From there, it's only natural for conspiracy theories to take root.