MLB faced plenty of questions this regular season about its baseballs. Home runs were up at a record-breaking pace with even poorly hit balls finding a way to leave the ballpark.

Stars like Justin Verlander accused MLB of intentionally introducing juiced baseballs to increase offense. Studies showed that the balls were juiced. It was obvious.

But for all the one-handed home runs we saw in the regular season, the power surge has seemingly stopped in the postseason.

The latest example came during Tuesday’s Game 3 of the ALCS between the Yankees and Astros. Trailing by two runs, Didi Gregorius thought he had all of Gerrit Cole’s 99 mph fastball for what would have been a go-ahead, three-run home run. The ball, which hung in the air for nearly seven seconds, was caught just in front of the wall to end the inning.

Didi just missed a series-altering three-run blast off Gerrit Cole. The playoffs in inches. pic.twitter.com/ic5BvgWEsv — Sportsnaut (@Sportsnaut) October 15, 2019

Obviously, it makes little sense to launch a conspiracy over a single swing — no matter how homer friendly right field at Yankee Stadium has been over the years. There’s just too small of a sample size to draw a conclusion based on Gregorius’ fly out alone.

But the questions about the suddenly dead baseballs haven’t just stemmed from that swing.

A study from Baseball Prospectus’ Rob Arthur showed that the baseballs’ drag coefficient has change dramatically this postseason. Via ESPN:

The postseason ball is dead. It’s not just the colder weather or superior pitching, either. Baseball Prospectus’ Rob Arthur studied the drag coefficient, which helps determine how far balls fly, and said it is significantly greater, with a “one-in-a-million chance” the balls are the same as used in the regular season.

Updated drag chart current through yesterday's games. No real reversion. Shaded area is now the 95% confidence interval for each week (derived from bootstrapping). You can see why I said there's a one in a million chance the balls are the same–the intervals are very narrow. pic.twitter.com/Gibc4AUN49 — Rob Arthur (@No_Little_Plans) October 15, 2019

The St. Louis Cardinals’ analytics department reached a similar conclusion about the postseason balls. And while the Yankees didn’t accuse MLB of altering the baseballs, they did wonder about what happened to keep Gregorius’ swing — with a 101.4 mph exit velocity and 41-degree launch angle — in the park.

Via ESPN:

Chad Green, Yankees reliever: “There’s obviously been some balls that have been hit well that haven’t left the ballpark, so everybody starts to question it.”

In one sense, fans were outraged to see juiced baseballs result in a record-shattering 6,776 home runs this season. But it would be a disservice for MLB to suddenly go with dead baseballs for the most important games. You can’t just change the game up on everyone in October.

The league released a statement to deny a change in the baseballs, but it did hedge the denial by mentioning that drag can vary.

BREAKING: MLB issues statement on baseballs used in postseason. “Balls that are used in the Postseason are pulled from the same batches as balls used in the regular season…. only difference is the stamp placed on the ball.” Additional comments: pic.twitter.com/SX9NqfykiY — Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) October 10, 2019

The more baseballs stay in the park, the more these questions will hit MLB.