It is far too early to say the Red Sox are really in trouble, or Dan Vogelbach is really a star. It is not, on the other hand, too early to say we're really going to see yet another league record for strikeouts, and home runs are probably really returning to the juiced-ball levels of 2017.

In between, though, are a number of ways baseball in 2019 has been broadly different this year than it ever has been before. Sometimes these early-season shifts turn out to be flukes, or seasonal; sometimes, they bear out as real, substantive changes in how the game is played. We're roughly 10 percent of the way into the 2019 season, and we'll look at three of those early leaguewide anomalies to see how they fit into the historical trendlines; how April specifically affects them; and whether the best explanation is permanent change or something flukier.

1. Triples have disappeared

There have been 0.14 triples hit per team per game this season, which would be the lowest in history.

Where it fits in historical trends: The long-term trend -- since the 1920s -- for triples has been down, but the dips have been slow and irregular. In the 1920s, the average team tripled about once every two games; in the 1930s and 1940s, it dropped to once every three; in the 1950s through the early 1980s, it was about once every four; and then over the next three decades, it was once every five. Over the past two decades, triples have occasionally dropped further still, and the three lowest triple rates in history came in 2013 (0.16 per game), 2017 (0.16 again) and 2018 (0.17). If this season holds at 0.14 triples per game, it would be the lowest rate in history, about 150 triples fewer leaguewide than were hit last year.

But is it just April? It doesn't appear to be. April has actually been the most typical month of the season for triples. And early-April triple rates have historically matched late-April rates. So while one might speculate that runners would be more cautious on cold/wet days, that doesn't seem to affect anything broadly. Early April is a good indication for the rest of the season.

But is this really just about home runs or strikeouts? This is important, because almost every story these days is really just about home runs or strikeouts. Triples might be down because players are hitting fewer triples. But they might be down because players are hitting fewer balls, generally, meaning this could be just one of the many outcomes lost to extra third strikes.

So instead of looking at triples per game, we can look at triples per ball in play, and we can look at triples per double. As noted, triples have fluctuated a bit -- and declined a bit -- since the turn of the century, but that has been almost entirely caused by strikeouts. The rate of triples per ball in play has been incredibly steady, at 0.7 percent of balls in play. This could be the first year ever to drop below 0.6 percent:

Another way to look at it is examining the ratio of triples to doubles, which are the closest cousin to triples. There have been eight triples for every 100 doubles hit this year, which would also be an all-time low.

So triples are convincingly down this year, and it can be explained only partly by the two big changes in home run and strikeout rates. And, indeed, this goes counter to another recent trend, of more playing time going to young position players. (Triples peak in a player's early 20s.)

So it's real? If you can think of a way players get to third base and stop there -- stealing third, or sacrificing a teammate from second to third, or going from first to third on a single, or hitting a danged triple -- then it has probably become less frequent in the past few years. Rob Mains has recently written about this at Baseball Prospectus, with two hypotheses: Sabermetrics has shown that the risk of advancing from second to third on a contested play (or in exchange for an out) isn't worth it, by run-expectancy models; and fear of injuries has made runners more cautious, more station-to-station.

There's another good reason, too: Strikeouts and home runs! In a high-strikeout environment, teams are less likely to get the runner home from third base on a sacrifice fly or groundout. And in a high-homer era, there's less disadvantage to stopping at second, since a home run scores all baserunners equally. So, while the drop in triples isn't explicitly about strikeouts and home runs, it sort of is.

With all that said -- we're talking about maybe only 15 missing triples, compared to last year's rates. Triples are going to continue to be down relative to when you were in elementary school, but it's too early to say they'll continue to be down relative to last year.

2. Pitchers are wilder than ever

There have been 3.48 walks per game, 0.43 batters hit by pitches per game, and 0.39 wild pitches per game. The latter two would be the highest rates since 1900; the walks would be the highest since 2000.

Perhaps most significantly, all this wildness has led to (and/or resulted from) longer plate appearances, which have led to longer games: Despite pace-of-game reforms, the average nine-inning game in 2019 is on track to match the slowest in history, at 3 hours, 5 minutes -- five minutes longer than last year.

Where it fits in historical trends:

• Hit batsmen had been fairly steady for about a century before ticking up in the mid-1990s and spiking in the mid-2000s. But that spike retreated until last year, when the league set a modern high at 0.4 HBP per game.

• Wild pitches were fairly steady until a jump in the 1960s, and were then fairly steady for decades after that, but have inched continuously up this decade.

• Walks peaked at the height of the steroid era but dropped a lot this decade (about 3 per game from 2011 to 2016), until the juiced ball came along. The 2017 and 2018 rates were high (3.26 and 3.23, respectively), but this year is much higher still.

But April? Yes, April is the busiest month for wildness: HBPs are generally 3 percent higher than the rest of the season, wild pitches 4 percent higher, and walks 6 percent higher. The first two weeks of the season are wilder still, and these per-game rates have already quieted down some since last week.

If we were to adjust each of these wildness measures down by 6 percent, then we'd still be on track for the new highs in HBPs (since 1900) and walks (since 2000), but the jumps would be less extreme and the chances of regression to normal levels would be more compelling.

But is it really just about home runs or strikeouts? Yeah. Even stipulating that there's a good chance all these wildness stats will regress to something in line with 2018 and 2017, there are clear ways pitchers have changed their approaches even more this year, to add strikeouts and to avoid home runs:

Fastball rates:
2010: 63.5 percent of all pitches
2018: 60.8 percent
2019: 58.7 percent

Inside pitches:
2010: 27.6 percent of all pitches
2018: 29.1 percent
2019: 30.1 percent

As Baseball Prospectus' Matt Trueblood has been documenting, full counts are way up this year, with 15.4 percent of plate appearances now reaching such a point. Pitches per plate appearance, at 3.95, are way up from last year's 3.90, which was itself a record. More pitches mean more opportunities for hit batsmen and wild pitches, of course. Beyond that, though, pitchers are showing clear intention here: Avoiding contact and working cautiously to get to the deep counts where a strikeout pitcher's advantage grows. This isn't really that pitchers are wild, but that they're choosing a wilder way of pitching.

So it's real? Basically. Although, as with triples, it's easier to say that baseball has definitely changed in the past few years than it has definitely changed this month. I'm extremely confident we'll see a new record for pitches per plate appearance this year. The rest will likely follow.

3. Relievers are bad

Relievers' ERA (4.44) is, collectively, higher than starters' ERA (4.33). Relievers have also allowed exactly the same OPS as starters.

Where it fits in historical trends: Through the 1950s, relievers were pretty much always worse than starters, and even into the mid-1970s it wasn't uncommon for relievers to collectively allow more offense than starters did. But that was a different era, when relievers were really more like backups -- the second string -- than they were a part of everyday baseball strategy. Since the relief era really took off in the late 1980s, relievers have always pitched considerably better than starters, not because they've been better pitchers but because they've been quality pitchers used in shorter stints and, usually, with the platoon advantage generally in their favor. (In other words: Starters are better, but relievers have the easier job.)

If this holds, it would be the first time since 1988 that relievers have allowed a higher ERA than starters did, or as high of an OPS. Indeed, from 1988 through 2017, there was only one season when relievers' ERA wasn't at least 5 percent lower than starters'.

But last year, relievers' ERA was just 3 percent lower than starters, and their OPS allowed was just 1 percent lower. This year, relievers' ERA is 3 percent higher than starters.

You'd have to go back to 1954 to find a year when starters were that much better than relievers.

But April? The gap between starters and relievers is smallest in April (and September), but smallest doesn't mean small. Since 1988, relievers' ERA has been about 6 percent better than starters' in March and April. The gap grows -- to about 8 percent -- in May through August, but even early in the season it is a real aberration to have starters outpitching relievers.

That said, weird things do happen in short stretches, and a reversal like this for a month isn't unprecedented. Starters outpitched relievers in April 2009, before things went back to normal the rest of the season. Also in 1997 and in 1994.

Home runs and strikeouts? Not exactly, but sort of. The crucial detail here, if this reversal turns out to be real and persistent, is relievers are throwing more innings than they ever have before, which dilutes the collective reliever pool. There have been 4.43 pitchers per game this year, which would be a record; relievers have thrown 41 percent of all innings, which would also be a record. There were 285 pitchers who appeared in relief during teams' first 12 games this season. There were 261 in the first dozen games of 2017 -- and it's safe to say those extra 24 are dragging down, not lifting up, the collective reliever stats. There were 232 relievers in the first 12 days of 2010. Dozens of pitchers have thrown relief innings this year who would probably have been in the minors most any other year.

Furthermore, we can't really say relievers are worse except in relation to starters, and starters have been the statistical beneficiaries of modern pitcher usage. Fewer and fewer starters are asked to face batters a third time in the game, to throw a pitch while exhausted, or to pace themselves to get through eight or nine innings. Each season, starters are able to pitch more like relievers -- at full tilt, basically. A big reason teams prefer to use their starters this way -- five innings and then out -- is they like their starters to pitch for strikeouts, and they don't like having tired starters in the game giving up home runs.

So it's real? It's probably not all the way real. There hasn't been a substantial increase in relief innings since last season, or in relievers used since last season, so it's hard to explain why there'd be such a substantial change in results since last season. The best bet is relievers will settle in to a level much like last year, when they allowed 3 percent fewer earned runs than starters. But that was a big change, an anomalous season matched only once in the previous 40 years. We wondered, at the end of the 2017 season, why five-inning starters weren't closing the gap on relievers, statistically. Then they did, a lot. This April is providing strong evidence that last year, at least, was real.

The 10-day Olympic Games athletics schedule includes nine morning in-stadium finals

The athletics timetable for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been published, with the 10-day schedule featuring a number of morning finals and the addition of the mixed 4x400m relay.

Competition will begin with the men’s 20km race walk on Friday July 31 and conclude with the men’s marathon on the final day of the Games, Sunday August 9.

The marathons will both start at 6am local time, with the women’s race taking place on day three, Sunday August 2. The men’s 50km race walk will begin at 5:30 on the penultimate morning, while the men’s and women’s 20km race walk events will start at 6am. The early starting times have been set “to give athletes the coolest and safest possible race conditions”.

Nine in-stadium finals will take place during the morning sessions, while the women’s 100m final will be on the evening of day two and the men’s on the evening of day three. The men’s 10,000m final is on the evening of day one, while the women’s is on the the last evening of action, on Saturday August 8.

The mixed 4x400m relay will be held on the evening of day two with the aim of allowing athletes the chance to also compete in the individual 400m events and the traditional 4x400m relay races if they wish, though the men’s 400m heats take place the next morning and both 400m hurdles competitions will be under way.

The decathlon and heptathlon events will be staged together in the same two-day period of August 5-6.

The full timetable can be downloaded here (times stated are local time).

“The Tokyo 2020 schedule is substantially different from our previous Olympic timetables, but will offer the vast majority of athletics fans attending the Games the opportunity to see Olympic medals being decided, with finals scheduled in 15 of the 17 sessions in the main stadium,” said IAAF competitions director Paul Hardy.

“Having finals in the morning, as requested by the International Olympic Committee, will enhance the visibility of athletics across all time zones.

“The stadium-based distance events remain in the evening sessions to reduce the risk of very hot conditions for our endurance athletes, while the road events will start as early as practicable in the morning.

“The new schedule also accommodates both the traditional doubles and the historic addition of the mixed 4x400m relay, the first time that athletics has combined the talents of both male and female athletes in one event at the Games.”

Glasgow will again host an ATP Challenger event this year, the Lawn Tennis Association has announced.

Singles and doubles events will take place at Scotstoun Sports Campus from 16-22 September.

Last year's inaugural event was attended by more than 3,000 spectators with Slovakia's Lukas Lacko winning the singles.

"Some of the best memories have been playing Davis Cup ties at home," said Scottish doubles player Jamie Murray.

"I am delighted to be working with the LTA and Glasgow Life on the planning and delivery of an ATP Challenger in Scotland later this year."

Murray, who has played a role in the planning of the event, added: "We hope to make this year's tournament more successful, providing a platform to inspire more young people in Scotland to take up our sport.

"I look forward to seeing everyone again in September."

British number one Kyle Edmund let an early lead slip as he was beaten in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters by Diego Schwartzman.

World number 23 Edmund led Argentina's Schwartzman by a set and 3-0 but ultimately lost 4-6 6-3 6-1.

The 24-year-old won only one of the final 13 games against Schwartzman, who is one place below him in the world rankings.

Schwartzman will face either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Taylor Fritz next.

There were five breaks of serve in a scrappy opening set before Edmund converted his first set point.

The Briton broke Schwartzman at the first opportunity in the second set but Schwartzman won nine straight games to level the match and take an early third-set lead.

Edmund held serve for 1-3 and had a break point in the next game, but a missed backhand volley allowed Schwartzman to extend his lead.

Schwartzman, who reached the French Open quarter-finals in 2018, went on to serve out victory.

The two will face one another again in the men's doubles on Tuesday. Edmund and compatriot Neil Skupski are scheduled to play Schwartzman and Joao Sousa of Portugal from 14:00 BST.

British number two Cameron Norrie opens his singles campaign against Adrian Mannarino of France on the same day.

Rafael Nadal also begins his title defence on Tuesday against fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. The match will be Nadal's first in over a month after he injured his knee at Indian Wells in March.

Low Wee Wern beats third Egyptian in a row to make Macau final
By ALEX WAN – Squash Mad Asian Bureau Editor

The semi-final matches at the Tap Seac Square had to be cut short after heavy rain interrupted play halfway through the second game of the men’s first semi-final. Then, third seed Omar Mosaad was leading Greg Lobban by a game and 4-2 in the second. After several attempts by the helpers to dry the floor, it became one too many times and match referee Anthony Soh decided that it should be continued back at the Macau Bowling Centre.

Malaysian comeback queen Low Wee Wern’s dream run at her maiden Macau Open continued today as she overcame a first game deficit to beat a third Egyptian in a row. Having taken out second seed Salma Hany in the second round, then Nadine Shahin in the quarters yesterday, Low beat a third Egyptian Zeina Mickawy in four games today.

Low, who has mostly been playing in 5k and 10k events since she came back on tour after a 20-month injury layoff to rehabilitate her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), bettered her milestone once again by making the final. The Malaysian had twice changed her flight and will be forced to do so once again tonight.

Despite falling behind after losing out a very close first game that went to the tie-break, Low stuck to her game plan of keeping the ball behind Mickawy, who can be very dangerous with her hard-hitting. Her strategy paid off as Mickawy became more and more impatient and often tried to force a winning shot out of a less-than-ideal situation, that more often went into the tin.

“I think (today) I played one of my best this week, so far. I was a lot calmer on court. Even though I lost the crucial first game, I was actually quite calm. I was finding my length and the corners pretty well today. It’s a good improvement for me to get better day by day.

“For me to get into the final of a 50k is a great achievement. I’ve had to change my flight a couple of times because I didn’t know if I was up to making this far. Now, I’m slowly getting my confidence back, which is a good start to the year for me,” said Low.

In the other women’s semi-final, Annie Au and Joshna Chinappa, the first and third seeds of the event, played their 20th competitive match, with the first dating back to 2005 at the Asian Junior Championship. With Au holding an 11-8 record from their 19 matches and winning their last two encounters last year, she had to be the favourite today.

Having played back-to-back five setters the last two days, Annie Au was clinical this evening. Perhaps it was also because she is more familiar with Chinappa’s game after all these years. Au was always ahead of the Indian in the first two games and closed them both out effectively.

However, in the third, things became less comfortable. After opening up a 6-2 lead, Au allowed Chinappa to claw back at 6-6 and twice lead 8-7 and 9-8. But she managed to contain that and eventually sneak the third on the tie-break for a straight-games victory.

“I knew it was going to be a hard match today. Joshna and I practice a lot together on tour, so we are very familiar with each other’s game. Moreover, we also play against each other a lot in Asian continent events. So I knew it was a tough one.

“Luckily, I managed to play according to my game plan today – to keep the ball at the back and only bring to the front when the opportunity arises. Today I also feel I have a much better plan setup compared to the previous days. I feel I also moved a lot more effectively today.”

“Overall, I thought I was calmer today. Maybe the hard matches the last two days helped me get to this state. It’s like I’ve had two tough lessons and I do not want to get that close today,” Au said cheekily when asked if today was her easier game, compared to the score-lines of the previous days.

Over at the men’s, both the semi-final matches were pure entertaining stuff for the crowd. Despite having to move back to the Macau Bowling Centre halfway through the first Mosaad-Lobban match, that did not hamper the spirit of both the crowd and players.

Omar Mosaad has been hitting so cleanly all week and he continued to do so tonight as he halted the giant-killing run of Scotland’s Greg Lobban in four games. After taking the opener on the all-glass court, which Lobban clearly wasn’t as comfortable on, and six points into the next, play was halted and moved.

After the restart, it was Lobban who started off stronger and moved more comfortably. Mosaad seemed distracted and began to question the referee more than his usual self. Perhaps that cost him the third game. But being the professional that he is, he managed to regroup and refocus in the third to get the job done. While there were calls he wasn’t happy about, he seemed to be more accepting and moved on much easily. He was rewarded with the third game and took the lead once again.

In the fourth, it was nearly point-for-point and Lobban had an opportunity to force a fifth when he had game ball at 10-8. He didn’t manage to convert the two game balls and even had a third at 11-10. That too, was saved and it was Mosaad’s turn to have a shot at 12-11. Mosaad had an even bigger chance when Lobban’s return of serve snapped the strings of his racket and he played the entire rally with broken strings that ended with a let. However, that proved useless as Mosaad slotted a forehand volley drop into the nick and raised both his arms in victory and claim his place in his fourth Macau Open final.

“This is a special event for me. I’ve reached the final here for the fourth time today. The change of court halfway back here was a little tricky for me. There was nearly an hour delay before we restarted. I actually started back really well, but then Greg started to play even better. The third was important for me to get the lead again. Then in the fourth, it was pretty much point-for-point.

“I’m going to give my best tomorrow. As I’ve told you before, I take it match by match and I have gotten over three. So tomorrow will be one final match before I head to El Gouna, and I will put in everything I have,” the Hammer of Thor said afterwards.

While Mosaad has plenty of experience here in Macau, his opponent tomorrow will be a first-time finalist here. Top seed Diego Elias edged out defending champion Yip Tsz Fung is a match that truly showcased both their amazing skills. The pair, who both play a very similar game of calculated lengths and deft drops, entertained the crowd for a full 53 minutes.

After losing out closely 11-9 in the first, Yip had his chance to equal at 10-8 up in the second, but he just couldn’t close it. Given the final result of the match, this might be something that will haunt him for a while. He did manage to come back to take the third, but Elias stamped his mark to close out the fourth and book his place in the final.

“I’m feeling really good and I think I played well. Yip is a really tough player who loves to play the ball to the front. He has very good hands and I had to work a lot today. I had to run a lot more today than the previous days,” the Peruvian Puma said after.

RESULTS (SEMI FINALS)

Annie Au (HKG) bt Joshna Chinappa (IND) 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 (34m)
Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 10-12, 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 (38m)

Diego Elias (PER) bt Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-7 (53m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 13-11 (76m)

Pictures courtesy of Macau Squash Association