Welcome to the “Dead Ball Era 2.0.”

At a time when Major League Baseball is desperately trying to stop the slow bleeding of fans to other sports and activities, offense is on a precipitous decline.

Not a good time for that. Offense (and to a certain extent the blind eye baseball had to PED use) helped get baseball fans back after the strike wiped out the 1994 season.

While there is no strife to contend with, baseball faces a new problem: teams simply aren’t scoring enough runs or hitting as many towering, fan-friendly home runs.

Sure, it’s not a coincidence that the drop began in 2006, right about the time when MLB began cracking down on steroids.

But this is a multi-layered issue.

Many things have contributed to the lack of offense.

Trends are cyclical, but there are some things that can be done to stem the disturbing tide.

Runs per game have dropped by almost a full run in the last nine years and are at the lowest level since 1981. Here are some reasons and some possible fixes:

Shifts, shifts and more shifts — Thanks, Clint Hurdle.

It used to be a novelty to see a team position three or even four players on the right side of the infield. It was so rare that it drew derisive pointing and snickering.

Now, every team does it.

Technology has made it so there is a plethora of information on every hitter and managers are positioning their defense based on those trends. Take just 10 hits away from a pull hitter in this way and his average can drop by as much as 20 points.

One radical solution would be to prohibit these drastic shifts.

Bullpen specialists — With teams carrying 12 and sometimes 13 pitchers on their roster, managers can burn through hurlers like sunflower seeds.

These specialists enter the game throwing near-100-mph gas because they know they will only face one, maybe two, hitters before their night is done.

That makes the hitter’s job even more difficult. A batter may see the same pitcher in a game just twice.

There is a groundswell of support for a rule that would make it so a pitcher must face a minimum of three batters before he can be removed, barring injury.

One, two, three strikes everyone’s out — Pitchers are throwing harder and hitters are swinging and missing more.

The fewer balls put into play, the fewer the baserunners. The fewer the baserunners, the fewer runs scored.

It’s not rocket science.

Not everyone, though, thinks this is a problem. There are fans who love pitching duels.

Well, this MLB is for you.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle and struck out once every two plate appearances in his youth baseball career.