The Yankees almost broke the internet this weekend with their newly designed, torpedo-style bats. As you can see in the image above, the bats essentially move some of the wood lower down the barrel, putting more mass in the area that strikes the ball.

The Yankees front office worked with manufacturers to design these bats after the team’s analytics department realized some players were routinely making contact lower down the barrel. So, rather than attempting to redesign a player’s swing, they simply shifted more wood towards the label. This allows hitters to wait just a split second longer on pitches while also increasing power and consistency through mass.

The end of the bat looks like a bowling pin, but that’s not why they went viral. The bats went viral because the Yankees hit a franchise-record nine home runs on Saturday against the Brewers. The game started with three home runs on three straight pitches off former teammate Nestor Cortes, ending with a final score of 20-9.

Many people have speculated that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will soon ban these bats because they aren’t legal, but the rules are actually pretty clear on this.

According to Rule 3.02, bats must be made from one piece of solid wood, be no more than 2.61 inches in diameter at their thickest part, and not exceed 42 inches in length.

There are also some rules around how far grip-enhancing substances can extend beyond the handle (18 inches), and all “experimental” bats — essentially anything that doesn’t look like a regular bat — must be approved by MLB’s league office before use.

This is only part of the story, though. You can read about MLB’s rulebook or why the Yankees created a new bat anywhere. Instead, the more interesting part of the story involves dozens of PhD-level data scientists, biomechanics analysts, and machine learning experts searching for a competitive advantage through analytics…