I find this year very watchable, but that mostly has to do with the Braves being one of the top teams this year. The Braves also have the NL leader in stolen bases who can also hit a bunch of homers. Swanson was having a career year, and hopefully can return soon. There are a lot of other great stories on the team as well.
Something has changed about the ball this year, because everyone is hitting more homers than ever. It does make some games ridiculous (just look at the Nationals scores lately), but is exciting as well.
Cardinals pitchers combined for a one hit shutout vs the Brewers the other night, so pitching and defense is not dead. Then again, they were playing outdoors in St Louis and not in the semi-enclosed band-box in Milwaukee.