What has happened to offense at first base? When I look at a team by position, first is where I want to see the highest batting numbers. On-base + slugging by first basemen is way down this year. Five teams have OPS under .700 from the position:

Team           OPS at First Base

Mets                   .579

Giants                 .638

Red Sox                .658

Expos                  .694

Tigers                 .699

During the offensive explosion of 1994-2001, there were only 7 times that team first basemen had OPS below .700. In this time period, ML first baseman OPS averaged .853, while overall OPS was .765. So first basemen were about 90 points higher than the league average. This year, the overall numbers have dropped about 20 points to .743, but OPS at first has dropped 40 points to .812.

Of course, the good news is that if you don't have offense at first, it should be easy to find some. I can't believe every club doesn't have a pure power hitter sitting in the minors that is capable of catching a baseball thrown at his chest. (By the way, it's nice the see the Tigers did such a good job of replacing Tony Clark :-))