There is an alternate explanation that I've read, and will badly over simplify here. That is, the very fact that we can see distant objects at all demands that photons from said objects traveled through mostly empty space. If that was not the case the photons would have been absorbed, never reaching us.

While this "mostly empty space" is clearly not as devoid of gravitational influence as the "billion-light-year-long bubble" described in the article, the distance traveled can be far greater than a billion light years. Instead of having one large adjustment we have many small adjustments throughout the photon's journey accounting for the Dark Energy Mirage...