I like umpires. I don’t like to hate them like different baseball followers do although. I’ve all the time leaned within the course of leniency. I do know that officiating in any sport is tough, thankless, and downright hazardous to your well being in some conditions. Umpires get it the worst although, maybe as a result of they’re concerned in each play, or maybe as a result of they’ve been the topic of a lot debate during the last a number of years in figuring out whether or not or not MLB ought to rid themselves of umpires altogether.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has claimed he needs to implement a completely automated balls and strikes (ABS) system by the 2024 season. I’ve nothing towards that. What I do have an issue with is the New York Times making it seem to be umpiring is straightforward work. It’s not. It’s unfathomably exhausting and whereas after years and years of umpires working their means as much as the MLB stage, you’d count on higher accuracy and consistency from them, I doubt any of us regular, common, on a regular basis metropolis people, might do any higher.
The New York Times’ umpiring recreation throws seven pitches at you, all of which have been known as incorrectly in the course of the 2022 MLB season. It’s your job to look at a diagram of the pitch and decide whether or not or not every one was a ball or strike. There’s no seen strike zone, no pitcher, and no level on the diagram displaying you the place the ball crossed the plate, only a fast re-play and two choices labeled “Ball” or “Strike.” I’m not making an attempt to brag, however I went 7-for-7 with solely the final pitch giving me a tricky time. It’s not even actually price boasting about contemplating the success that different individuals have had.
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At least the last guy has some sense. It’s not just way more difficult in real time where you need to make a decision moments after the ball hits the catcher’s glove, it’s also the angle at which the umpire sits. For this game, we have the luxury of sitting right behind the plate at an even eye-level with the strike zone. There’s no catcher obstructing our view, and we don’t need to worry about taking the hitters’ height into account, because the hitter isn’t in our peripherals, he’s in our direct line of sight. That’s not going to be the case for most umpires. The catcher can obstruct their view to balls low in the zone, hence why most of the pitches in the game were down low.
I loved playing this game, and I hope the NYT realizes how cool it is and turns it into a full-fledged website with consistent updates so I can spend my off hours convincing myself I could do better than Ángel Hernández. That said, this game also propels the notion that umpires aren’t good at their job, which frankly, isn’t true at all. They deserve more respect. I doubt they’ll get it after so many people got so many of their incorrect calls right.