As intriguing as it is to talk about Jones hitting .400 for the season, don't bet the ranch on it.

Here are 10 reasons why .400 has become a part of baseball's history, with no reason to think it has a place in the game's future:

It just doesn't happen

It has been 67 years since a player last hit .400 (Ted Williams, in 1941). Since 1980, there's only been one player even at the .400 level after Aug. 2 in a season — George Brett, who carried a .400 average until Sept. 19, 1980 and finished at .390. Brett had some moments of rest that season, playing in only 117 games and having only 508 plate appearances (just six above the minimum to be considered for the batting title) because of injuries.

Nothing's tougher

Is there anything more difficult in baseball than hitting .400? Uh, nope. Only seven players since 1900 have done it for a total of 12 times. Meanwhile, there have been 14 Triple Crowns, won by a total of 12 players, since 1900. There have also been 17 perfect games and 14 unassisted triple plays.

Bright lights

Night games have been a blessing for attendance. It, however, presents a challenge for players. No matter how good the lighting is, it's not the same as natural sunshine. There hasn't been a .400 hitter since night games became a baseball staple. In 1941, the year Williams became the game's last .400 hitter, only five AL ballparks had ever hosted a night game. And it was an event, not a regular part of the schedule. Boston didn't play its first night game at Fenway Park until 1947.

Track record

Jones has never hit higher than .337 in his career. To hit .400 would mean hitting 63 points higher than his previous career-best. Each of the seven players to hit .400 had at least three seasons of hitting .370 or better in their career, led by Cobb with 12 seasons. Williams only did it twice, but he also missed three full seasons to World War II (1943-45) and played in only 43 games combined in 1952-53 because of the Korean War.

Travel

The game has been spread out and it shows. No one's hit .400 since baseball expanded its map west of the Mississippi River. There's no sleeper car travel anymore. There are red-eye plane flights, jet lag, and such. And what often gets overlooked, is the time change that impacts productivity. There are three AL teams and four NL teams that play in the Pacific time zone, which means night games in those cities start at 10 p.m., or later, Eastern time, and often don't end until what would be 1 a.m. body time for visiting players.

Lefty, righty

There have been five left-handed hitters, two-right-handed hitters and no switch-hitters who've put together .400 seasons. Mickey Mantle holds the single-season batting average record for a switch-hitter at .365 in 1957. A switch-hitter — such as Jones — faces a challenge in fine-tuning both a left-handed and right-handed swing.

Pitching in

Good hitters learn the tendencies of pitchers as they face them. The problem is, with 16 teams in the NL, 14 in the AL and the addition of interleague play, hitters are frequently seeing pitchers they haven't seen before. When Williams became the last .400 hitter in 1941, 101 pitchers appeared in games in the AL. Jones had faced 101 different pitchers in his first 65 games this season.

Breaking balls