MLB Off-Topic

[DamnYanks2]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Am I the only one that likes replay? Yes it's somewhat tedious and boring, but at the end of the day I want the right call to be made.

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[Jr.]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Going back to the strike zone discussion, if I may...

They're moving the strike zone back to the top of the knees so getting rid of the change in 1996 that was primarily due to the roid era.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/strike_zone.jsp

@ SPTO: What zone were you referring to when asking to go "back to the 80s"?

Also...if I'm interpreting this correctly, doesn't this mean the zone is from the top of the shoulders to the top of the knees now? As it is now, it seems the zone is kindly in the midpoint between the letters and the belt now, with how umps call it and ESPN/FOX display it.

Midpoint of the top of the shoulders to the top of the pants, which would be about the bottom of the breastbone. No umpire calls that zone, however. The top of most umpires' zones is usually around a baseball (about 2 inches) above the belt. I have a feeling there will be an emphasis on the high strike with the rule change about the bottom of the zone.

[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Am I the only one that likes replay? Yes it's somewhat tedious and boring, but at the end of the day I want the right call to be made.

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I mentioned last week in the game thread...I understand the desire to get everything right, but I think replay is horrible right now. It absolutely kills the flow of the game. I mentioned that one of my most amazing memories was Game 7 of the NLCS as Bream sliding home safely. Immediately you could go crazy...it was spontaneous celebration. Today, the play would have been immediately reviewed and dissected...and then after a 5-8 minute deliberation the call would be confirmed/overturned. Sports are entertainment and I find few things less entertaining than the replay review systems. The desire to get all the calls right has to be balanced with keeping things moving...right now we aren't doing that at all. (this struck me watching a game last week that had 4 or 5 reviews in a few inning period that just killed the flow of a great game...hated it.)

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I agree with Sportsforever. I might be in the minority (probably), but I prefer the human element of umpires, flaws and all. The only thing I really want replay used for is fair/foul/fan interference calls on homers. This checking of 4-5 bang bang plays at 1B/2B every game is too much "accuracy" for me. You'd have to think that, statistically, these miscalls on routine plays even out for teams in the end.

[Jr.]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I like getting calls correct, but they need to put a time limit on the review. If they can't overturn the call after looking at video for 90 seconds, the call stands.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I don't really like replay but not because I don't want the call right, more because it hasn't enacted the change I expected. First, I dislike some of its uses. An example the other day, and I don't mind because it's technically within the rule, Chase Headley stole a base cleanly, and when he went to stand up, he transferred his feet with kind of a jump while the glove was on him the whole time. Obviously no one notices this in real time, but replay called him out, which again was the right call, but it just seems a silly use of the rule.

My bigger problem with replay is I don't understand it's purpose. Maybe I just am expecting too much, but how far away are we from having the same tech in baseballs that is in tennis balls? I ask because if we want the calls right, eliminate the human element altogether and get them right. Put a sensor in the ball, one in the bases, one in the foul poles, get a computerized strike zone, and then just have it be done that way and use the umpires to do all of the in between work.

It has become what I originally feared with all of the tinkering and slowly adding things to be reviewable, which is a football like system that makes you question the whole thing. "You can challenge this, but not that obvious holding call the referees missed?" "You can challenge whether or not a guy's foot was off the bag for .2 seconds but not whether or not the batter went around even though it was obvious to everyone except for the home plate umpire?" Not that the system shouldn't be questioned, just that it takes away from the game and adds to the confusion of the rules. What's a catch in football now, anyway? What's a legal/illegal slide? Things shouldn't be this confusing. Either go the full mile and make it black and white or embrace the grey.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I love replay. I'm sick of *******s deciding games and not being able to check their work.

I'm also of the thought that literally everything should be reviewable.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I think we're all about getting the call right. However, it has certainly taken some elements out of the game.

For instance, although we don't necessarily want to see players whine, I think it's ridiculous now that when a bad call is made, there is zero confrontation with the umpires at all. Instead, they point back to their dugouts and go, "Review it." Kind of boring now.

Also, ask any Giants fan how many times replay hasn't worked. I don't know how easy it will be for me to research the plays when the call clearly should have been reversed, and it didn't. And no, it's not just a homer in me saying it should have. The two issues with it are that they are going off of some "must be indisputable to overturn," which in my opinion they were... but furthermore, we as fans have no idea what angles and replays they're given.

I think that, given the amount of times the replay shows on the board, the umpires at the stadium can at times even see that they blew a call, but if the guys in NY don't overturn it then they can't either.

I also think that umpires are held less accountable these days because of this. They are "forgiven" for their bad calls more, at least to us. I think they have gotten lazier as a result, knowing that replay can address any mistake they may have made.

Also, just like TheMatrix (and others) have said, why are some things reviewable and others not? Consider when Edwin Encarnacion got plunked the other day on a check swing. The call on the field was "dead ball, take your base." The Red Sox can only appeal for a review on whether the ball hit him or the bat, but meanwhile in the replay when it shows he goes around swinging, they can't say, "Oh by the way, you swung so it's a dead ball strike." Very bizarre.

Does replay belong in the game? After seeing it in action, I don't see why not. Are there better systems to implement? Without a doubt, IMO. Trust me, I want the call right as much as anybody else, but the current system is slow, unexciting, forgiving, inaccurate, inconsistent, inconsequential, and still not entirely transparent.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Speedy my "'80s strike zone" comment is basically that rule that you quoted in your post but also umpires back then (and it's something MLB should consider trying to work out with umpires again) were split between leagues. You would have crews seeing teams on a fairly regular basis and the HP umpire would have a working knowledge of how every pitcher's pitches would move in relation to the strike zone.

This often allowed players to know in general how every umpire calls the zone and you wouldn't get so many tiffs between umpires and managers because of inconsistent calls behind the plate.

[areobee401]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I hate replay in all sports. Hurts my viewing experience by slowing down games. I also have no problem with human error being part of sports. But in the end, replay is here to stay, and that's fine.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Sigh...

Mazara's home run yesterday went equally as far as his "491 foot" home run, as both went 453 feet.



Both great shots, but this will go unacknowledged lol because Statcast had this one going "448 feet." I'd believe that if they got the first one right. This one came off the bat even faster and had a lower launch angle, and definitely had more backspin.

I'd like to know how Statcast works, exactly...

[redsox4evur]

MLB Off-Topic



Peak Kershaw GOAT??? A case could be made.

Note Pedro has 5 more starts than Kershaw.

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[AC]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Pedro pitched in a much more difficult era to pitch in.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Pedro pitched in a much more difficult era to pitch in.

A MUCH MORE DIFFICULT ERA.

Maybe the most difficult era. Don't forget about Fenway/AL vs Dodger Stadium/NL, either.

Emphasis added.

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

yeah no one touches peak Pedro for me. That environment is totally different.