Challenging strikes and balls in MLB

msudawg12

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Dec 9, 2008
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I absolutely love it. There are times when umps play God and squeeze pitchers or let them have everything. It ruins the integrity of the game
 
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thekimmer

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Aug 30, 2012
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Bring on the robo ump
I am all for it. When you have something like balls and strikes that can be done in real time with near 100% accuracy why would you not? There is still plenty for the plate ump to do. Watch for catcher/batter interference, HBP, fair/foul, pitch clock, balks, plays at the plate, dropped strike 3. I think umpires should be all for it.
 

STATEgrad04

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Mar 3, 2008
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Full disclaimer, I haven't read up on this at all, but I am wondering if both offense and defense have the option to review? If while pitching a strike is called a ball, does the defense get to ask for review, or if a ball is called a strike does the offense get to call for a review?
 

00Dawg

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Nov 10, 2009
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I have questions:
1. That box has looked the same on the challenges I've seen. Are they actually adjusting it for every batter, and does our view reflect that? I know what they claim...
2. The top of the strike zone is halfway between waist and shoulders when a batter is in their natural batting stance. If I look at the beginning of the video before the batter strides and then pause as the ball hits the catcher's mitt, that's a strike. Did I miss a lengthy discourse on how the automated zone actually changes the zone itself, removing the stance from the equation?
 
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ETK99

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2019
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People continue to attempt to 17 up baseball at every turn. Stop 17ing up baseball! Pitch clocks, to big bases, to challenges, it's all getting out of control. The game is being lost to the control freaks. If time is an issue, play 7 innings and move on. If strike calls are being missed a ton by one guy, fire him. I've just about lost interest in the sport that I used to love.
 

Poppy IV

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Nov 24, 2016
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I absolutely love it. There are times when umps play God and squeeze pitchers or let them have everything. It ruins the integrity of the game
While we’re working on the integrity of the game let’s talk about ball parks. No two ballparks in the major leagues have the same dimensions. Outfield fences and foul territory. Short fences produce more home runs, and more foul territory produces more foul pop ups being caught. Doesn’t this skew statistics over the long haul? I guess MLB thinks it’s “cute “ though having unique ballparks.
Excuse my rant for the day.
 

msudawg12

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Dec 9, 2008
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While we’re working on the integrity of the game let’s talk about ball parks. No two ballparks in the major leagues have the same dimensions. Outfield fences and foul territory. Short fences produce more home runs, and more foul territory produces more foul pop ups being caught. Doesn’t this skew statistics over the long haul? I guess MLB thinks it’s “cute “ though having unique ballparks.
Excuse my rant for the day.

Ballpark dimensions do not make the game unfair as both teams are always playing in the same park. Therefore, each actual game is even.
Your rant doesnt hold water because if you want to start comparing things like that, you have the hitters parks of the Rockies compared to others, etc. Unique parks make the game great.
 

ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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I don't know how this pans out but I do know that if I'm an ump and a pitcher loses 2 challenges against me, he's going to regret that.
 
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Bulldog Bruce

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Nov 1, 2007
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Absolutely should be done. The most difficult thing in hitting is the uncertainty of the strike zone. That is for both batters and pitchers. When the ump misses a call it is too much of a disadvantage for the side that it was wrong for. A 2-1 vs a 1-2 is huge for the one who has the 2 in their favor.

I would actually like to get rid of the challenge all together. Just call every pitch. Because it would really suck when they are wrong and you are out of challenges.
 

DesotoCountyDawg

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Nov 16, 2005
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While we’re working on the integrity of the game let’s talk about ball parks. No two ballparks in the major leagues have the same dimensions. Outfield fences and foul territory. Short fences produce more home runs, and more foul territory produces more foul pop ups being caught. Doesn’t this skew statistics over the long haul? I guess MLB thinks it’s “cute “ though having unique ballparks.
Excuse my rant for the day.
There have been unique shaped ballparks since the beginning of baseball. It doesn’t skew anything.
 

ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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Absolutely should be done. The most difficult thing in hitting is the uncertainty of the strike zone. That is for both batters and pitchers. When the ump misses a call it is too much of a disadvantage for the side that it was wrong for. A 2-1 vs a 1-2 is huge for the one who has the 2 in their favor.

I would actually like to get rid of the challenge all together. Just call every pitch. Because it would really suck when they are wrong and you are out of challenges.
Agree. Do one or the other. Reviews bring in an entirely different dynamic and strategy and still doesn't remove human error entirely. Either accept the error/tradition or remove it entirely and let the bots call balls and strikes.
 

ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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There have been unique shaped ballparks since the beginning of baseball. It doesn’t skew anything.
It does if you are a stats nerd arguing over home runs, but basketball has stats and a regulated court and we still can't decide if Jordan or Lebron was better - so not really a reason to make things consistent in baseball.

(It was Jordan).
 
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ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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Here's an idea. Run the tech for every game but leave the calls 100% human and advertise an ump's accuracy. Tie their compensation and opportunity to call playoff games into accuracy % and you'll remove a lot of ump ego from the equation and give the fans one more thing to talk about - or for the degens one more thing to bet on.
 
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Dawgg

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Sep 9, 2012
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There have been unique shaped ballparks since the beginning of baseball. It doesn’t skew anything.
I mean... it does. The players that teams recruit are in a lot of ways geared towards their ballparks. Even in down years, the Yankees will be one of the top home run hitting teams largely because of the right field wall. Cincinnati and Baltimore are usually up there too, especially when you split it out to home runs at home. It doesn't necessarily come out in the win/loss column, so it's mostly just stat-padding, but there is a skew there.

That being said, I love that part of baseball. I like that every ballpark has its own unique layout.
 
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CochiseCowbell

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Oct 29, 2012
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Hell no. Bring it back.

Angry John Cleese GIF by Monty Python
 
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Poppy IV

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Ballpark dimensions do not make the game unfair as both teams are always playing in the same park. Therefore, each actual game is even.
Your rant doesnt hold water because if you want to start comparing things like that, you have the hitters parks of the Rockies compared to others, etc. Unique parks make the game great.
IMG_1233.png
 
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msudawg12

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Dec 9, 2008
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I'm unsure what you're attempting to illustrate here? No one argued that parks werent drastically different. But both teams play on the same field and that makes the game fair. If you're purely arguing on a statistic basis, that is silly.