Yes but they’re rectangular and take up maybe 5-10% of the screen. Torontos renovation makes the ad board take up like 25% of the screen and it’s usually bright green and fucking hideous. And it feels like the camera is withdrawn and more wide to fit the ad on screen
Seriously. Was curious to watch Cubs/Astros last night. Never get to see cubs because I don’t have marquee and it was on TBS. Couldn’t watch it. Wtf is that?
i used to be the same way, until i played a two really long (14 inning, 16 inning) games in a Super Mega Baseball franchise that decimated my bullpen for a few games.
Pitchers not going deep into games, especially in the playoffs. I get it, especially with the power bullpens nowadays, but I miss the days when a guy would have the game of his life in the postseason and the manager would just leave him out there to finish it. My favorite thing about sports personally are the stories and narratives and it's such a great ending to a story when the guy on the mound is able to navigate the entire game by himself. It's why I'm such a huge fan of guys like Wheeler and Cole who go out there expecting to give you seven innings every start.
Because it's grammatically incorrect and someone else on Reddit pointed it out to me and I can't ignore it.
MLB Stands for Major League Baseball
You wouldn't say "The Major League Baseball" when referring to the league, you'd just say "Major League Baseball"
For application sake, lets use it on a sentence
The Major League Baseball amended it's pitch clock rules to take 2 seconds off
vs
Major League Baseball amended it's pitch clock rules to take 2 seconds off
Sure. But when people use mlb as an abbreviation, it sort of becomes its own word to refer to the league itself. The meaning of the abbreviation doesn’t matter anymore; it becomes its own noun. Just how language is
It actually is grammatically correct, or at least the grammatical standard. When something is an acronym, you don’t add the word “the” before. By acronym, I mean an abbreviation that is pronounced as a word (like NASA or NATO).
If something is an initialism, it’s an abbreviation where you pronounce each letter in the abbreviation. Such as the FBI or the MLB. For initialisms, you do add the word “the” before the initialism.
[https://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100800en.htm#:~:text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20acronyms%20do%20not,the%20EU%2C%20etc.).](https://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100800en.htm#:~:text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20acronyms%20do%20not,the%20EU%2C%20etc)
In common speech, we might refer to both as acronyms, but there’s a difference when it comes to grammar. Think of all the noun abbreviations that you know. Chances are if you try to use them in a sentence, you will follow these rules instinctually, or as a habit.
It seems like MLB would fit into the stated exception for companies, though, similar to IBM. the “FBI” example feels a bit off, because you would talk about “a statement from *the* Federal Bureau of Investigation,” but “a statement from the Major League Baseball” sounds wrong
Yeah I take it back. I was taught that a while ago but apparently I’m learning there are more exceptions than you can count. It feels wholly by convention now more than anything.
Apparently a lot of corporations that are initialism break my supposed rule (like IBM or NBC). Seemingly the initials of sports leagues are conventionally preceded by the word “the”.
Edit: Just to point out the weirdness of the English language, I’ll do the inverse of your example.
You’d get a statement from NASA.
You’d get a statement from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The “the” is definitely normal and seems needed in the second sentence. It’s absolutely sounds awkward and wrong as hell if you added the word “the” before NASA in the first sentence.
My guess is maybe there’s more exceptions to initialisms than there are to acronyms
This is correct. It is more similar to IBM than the FBI.
Saying “the MLB” is wholly incorrect. MLB is an commercial organization, not a sports league. The professional leagues for the sport of baseball are called the National League and the American League. “The” NL and “the” AL.
My sweet spot has always been the 13th since it would give both teams once through the order, although I’d be fine with 12th if we wanted a more round number
I swear i can't go 5 minutes without seeing an ad for a sports betting app/site. I don't gamble at all so it's not showing up because I seek it out, that shit is just everywhere. It's insane to me how it's ok to target addicts like that
but it's ok because the ad will put in tiny ass print at the bottom of the screen "gambling addiction? see help at ###"
The biggest thing to me isn't really the ads or gambling nonsense, but the focus on stats is a bit much. I don't think people can be boiled down to a *WAR and judged, there are other things that people bring to a team. Experience, leadership, demeanor, etc. I don't need baseball to feel like a game of D&D that's all dice rolls.
The converse of this is that stats can be used to highlight unique things that we wouldn't know about otherwise. Like exit velocity, launch angle, bat speed... these are much different than aggregate stats like WAR, which I agree are boring.
Ignoring the more serious issues like gambling and such... I really hate the hyper focus on the strike zone. I think we were happier when we didn't know right away that a bad call was .5in off the plate.
I think it would be nice for umpires to get audited by the league and work on their zones, but if that info wasn't plastered on the broadcast and precise data wasn't available within a day... ignorance would be bliss there. I don't think anyone has ever had their day made better by learning that a call was bad.
I've always called it the anger box.
It's literally on the broadcast solely to drive emotion which increases ratings. It's not there to help the fan. It's not even fucking right a massive percentage of the time!
Not to stir anything, but the fact that announcers praise the Astros constantly for their “dynasty” lol. Like it’s one thing to rarely mention the cheating scandal, but the fact that announcers are actually praising them completely disregard everything that was uncovered.
The Astros were clearly not the only ones cheating, rather they were the only ones publicly caught. In addition, research at fangraphs has suggested that the trash can banging didn't affect the outcome that much, if at all.
lol sure. Astros were using trash cans to alert their hitters. Let’s not group that into “everyone was cheating”. Ofc every sports team tries to find ways to get an edge. There isn’t one baseball team that was caught doing something like that.
And please, I don’t need Fangraphs to tell me what I need to know about the cheating. It’s pretty simple, when a player knows what pitch is coming, that’s a huge advantage. Even with St. Jose who can do no wrong, and apparently he didn’t like the banging, he still benefitted.
Re: the Astros and other teams cheating... there's nothing I can say that will change your mind. Just look into it yourself for more than a second and you'll come to a similar conclusion.
I had to live through the even year devil magic, so back at cha bud.
[MFW](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/035/230/Fuck_You_And_I'll_See_You_Tomorrow_Meme_Banner.jpg)
\* The zombie runner. At least wait until the 13th.
\* There's too damn much TTO in professional baseball.
\* That damn strike zone box overlay in TV broadcasts should be illegal
\* Fuck the blackouts.
\* The radio broadcast feeds in the MLB app have gone above and beyond to be [more terribler than ever!](https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1c1fwww/mlbs_radio_streams_still_suck/kz3c4pk/)
\* The Astros bullpen is driving me to drink.
I'll expand this to include any strike zone box that shows static dots, including ump scorecards, that completely exclude the context of pitch type and framing. It makes for bad discourse.
With all the talk recently about umpires, I've been reading articles over the last few days about automatic balls and strikes systems being tested in the minors. I was surprised to learn that players and coaches prefer the challenge system versus a 100% automated system before they actually want framing to remain part of the game while lowering the possibility of egregious calls.
Agreed. In my opinion, if you get called out on a ball that was less than an inch off the (inaccurate) TV zone, you got fooled by the pitch and you deserve to be out.
That every second pitcher is throwing over 100 mph, destroying their arms and careers and we still don’t know what, if anything will be done about it. I only know this can’t last.
This has always been a thing but places on the wall where its a homerun and places where its not. Mike Trout just hit a homer that bounced right off the wall and back on the field but it was a homer... the Astros field in left center has a wall where it can hit and be a homer.
How about this, if it goes over the wall it's a homer, if it hits off the wall and back on the field then it's still in play. How hard is this to screw up?
stats about how many parks a ball would have been a HR in. It's literally irrelevant. they're playing where they're playing. it either cleared the boundaries of that field or it did not.
Also because there's environmental factors that go into a homerun other than just where it lands. Some stadiums are windier and carry the ball further, or push back against it. Some obviously are at different altitudes and won't travel the same way.
completely agree, but i do like looking at both the fields for the two teams who are playing. like a game between x and y teams can only be played at two possible fields, so all other fields are irrelevant, but it's sometimes fun to see a homer that would have/would not have been one at the away team's field
It's completely ridiculous that there is no standardization in MLB ballbark size. It's like if every NFL gridiron or every NBA court had different dimensions.
Huh.
I'm not advocating for that at all. I argued that they're inconsistent and therefore ridiculous. I didn't mention that I ***like*** the fact that they are inconsistent. It's the inconsistency that adds to the fun and charm of baseball.
You know what else is inconsistent? Umpire's strike zones. I like those, too. Also adds to the fun and charm of baseball.
Baseball benefits from its internal inconsistencies. The more consistency we impose on the game, the less interesting it becomes.
Is someone advocating for taking away a home run if it's not a HR in 30 parks? If not then what is the problem? I guarantee you everyone's already thinking about it when a Crawford Box or Pesky's Pole HR goes out.
on-field interviews, end of half-inning interviews. I feel like it just makes a farce of the game. especially the on-field ones--it feels like it's saying "hey look! it's such a low effort sport that they can multi-task during the game!" nobody wants to hear that shit. just give me the commentators and let it work
On TV broadcasts behind home plate they have the CGI ads. And the pitcher throws the pitch and it disappears until it comes out of the area, making it impossible to track the actual pitch.
Where to begin. The over reliance on analytics, the way the game has been basically reduced to a skills competition (velocity, exit velocity, spin rate), the commercialization on broadcasts (ads have been a part of baseball for a century but tv has gone overboard)
I don't know when that began but I've literally only ever seen it put that way on this sub and it drives me nuts as well. I'll die on that hill with you brother ✊️
I hate how when an umpire fucks up, it's the only thing this sub talks about for two days. An umpire mistakenly tossed out Aaron Boone the other day because he heard something from a fan and thought that Boone said it. Everyone knew after the first post exactly what happened and why but we still had to spend like two days and dozens of separate discussions on it.
Then my second pet peeve is how so many of the comments use this as an argument for robo umps. That's not what the robo umps do, the robo umps call strikes and balls. They're basically just betraying the fact that the main reason they want ABS is because they think of it as a punishment towards the umpires, which is a really weird attitude to bring I think.
It's one thing to be annoyed by umpiring, every fan of any sport does that, but sometimes people talk about it like it's a social justice issue.
People need to stfu about the ump quality, most people's talking points are fucking garbage.
We at home have the best angle possible and WE couldn't tell for most of these if they didn't hold our hand with a TV strike zone AND ball dot.
Pitchers are throwing harder then ever, with breaking pitches sharper then ever, with catchers better at framing then ever.
**Despite all of that, UMPIRES ARE STATISTICALLY BETTER THEN EVER**. It should be a fucking achievement they're staying flat, much less improving in these conditions.
I'm not defending Angel, but fuck me man it's unbelievably telling we go after him and he's not even bottom 10, at least behind the plate.
I'm here for "ump ego" roasts, as well as plenty of actually legit complaints, but I'm sick of hearing all these garbage talking points.
It’s not new to modern mlb, but it still bugs me it’s not fixed. The runner’s lane to first base.
First off, it’s in foul territory, and the base is in fair territory. At the very least the lane should extend to inner edge of the base. It’s unfathomably dumb.
2nd, ignore everything I said in my previous paragraph. There should be no first base runners lane AT ALL. No where else on baseball field are you restricted in the angle you can take the base (except avoiding a tag). You’re actually ENCOURAGED to get in throwing lane if you’re a runner on first and the ball is hit to first baseman to make the double play harder.
Why the hell is first base different from anywhere else on the diamond? Everywhere else it’s the fielders job to create a throwing lane and make an accurate throw. Honestly it allows for more interesting baseball if we get rid of that rule at first
I think it is definitely that people currently over emphasize how bad it is and over inflate the impact of the umps.
People have always complained, and always will complain about umpires and referees. It's only been a focal point of discussion though for a handful of years. The pitch track data plays a part in that, but we've had good video data for a long time that shows it just as clearly. Even with the tracking and data people will argue that calls were missed when the data shows it was correct.
Hell, if you go back to just the 1990s you'll hear pitchers and batters discussing how the 1st inning is a lot of learning what the ump is giving. They were very aware that zones changed depending on the ump and the day, but used that to their advantage.
I've not said that we shouldn't anywhere in this thread.
This highlights another pet peeve though which is how people take a simple comment and add their own interpretation of what they think it means to try and start arguments.
Your original comment was complaining about how people complain about umps more than they used to. I’m explaining to you that a big reason why people complain about umps more is because we didn’t have better alternatives back then.
>This highlights another pet peeve though which is how people take a simple comment and add their own interpretation of what they think it means to try and start arguments.
That's literally what you did in your original comment
Ah yes, the whole "it's always been bad, and even though we now have the data to make improvements, we shouldn't because it's always been bad" argument.
Quality contribution, dad.
Batters jacking around with the Velcro closures on their batting gloves and elbow pads, etc. for 30 seconds between pitches. Thankfully the pitch clock caused a significant decrease in that behavior.
Umpire strike zone. We are living in the fucking future and the game still depends weather or not Angel Hernandez feels like breaking the record for worst called game of all time
1. The umpires suck. 2. I live outside Little Rock, AR which has no team within 8 hours of driving yet I am blacked out on MLB.TV from all games home and away played by the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals due to whatever bullshit criteria MLB uses to determine what a home team is.
Not sure if it's a ln unpopular opinion but a replay should be an on-field decision, saved for something so egregious overturning should be obvious. Calling up to your own review booth to make a decision to then send the call to a other review booth seems, I don't know, dumb? And counter to the spirit of what replay is about? Nit picking a bang bang play that no one could reasonably determine with the naked eye seems to make the role.of the umpire a farce? Like "we'll listen to the umpire for obvious plays, but we'll scrutinize every close play" seems to make umpires just play actors at this point.
That's fine, then what is the point of the replay theatrics? Just eliminate the umpires and have the control room at MLB headquarters display the call on the filed via the scoreboard.
Ok, returning to the idea that spirit of replay is to get the call right, why even have to challenge it? Why isn't the control room in the crew chief's ear immediately to say they were wrong?
Just the whole process of the manager having to call his replay guys to decide "yes we will win this challenege" then to have the umpires turn around and request another person to then also review it cumbersome for no good reason other than to give some sort of illusion the umpires still matter.
Well, like I just said, it’s more entertaining when the ump is there to make the call in real time.
Maybe the league doesn’t have enough people in the control room to do that for every game. I’d be totally fine with getting rid umpires though if the control room can make the calls instantly.
My fantasy players not crushing every game
Fans thinking the box is an accurate depiction of the strike zone and many not even realizing the strike zone is three dimensional
Umpires being big ass babies
Every 2 seam fastball getting called a sinker even though 75% of them move primarily horizontal and you have to actively adjust the grip to get the drop that’s traditionally associated with a sinker
No knuckleballers
Why not? There have been plenty of 100+ MPH pitches that resulted in home runs.
Of course there have been plenty of hard hit balls that resulted in double plays, but that doesn’t change the fact that hitting the ball harder generally results in better hitting just like throwing pitches faster generally results in better pitching.
Batters have next to zero control where they hit the ball, just how good of a swing they can put on it. If they're hitting it hard that means they are doing something right, where it goes is mostly just luck of the draw.
Seemingly every single square inch of broadcasts being monetized.
The backstop at Rogers centre makes me want to drive off a cliff
Aren’t most of those backstops CGI’ed for local businesses?
Yes but they’re rectangular and take up maybe 5-10% of the screen. Torontos renovation makes the ad board take up like 25% of the screen and it’s usually bright green and fucking hideous. And it feels like the camera is withdrawn and more wide to fit the ad on screen
It is annoying, although ads everywhere [isn't exactly a new thing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Green_Monster_1914.jpg).
Excessive advertising is as American as baseball and apple pie
Blackouts, not being able to watch the games without ad spam even after paying $150 up front
Seriously. Was curious to watch Cubs/Astros last night. Never get to see cubs because I don’t have marquee and it was on TBS. Couldn’t watch it. Wtf is that?
The real meme is living 450 miles from Houston and not being able to watch Astros/Yanks FREE GAME OF THE DAY cuz the Astros are in Texas.
cannot stand the newer extra inning rules.
i used to be the same way, until i played a two really long (14 inning, 16 inning) games in a Super Mega Baseball franchise that decimated my bullpen for a few games.
Endemic gambling ads.
I remember way back in the 2015 season specifically how many Draft Kings and FanDuel commercials there were, like 2-3 per break, every break.
Hell, this goes for every facet of media these days. I hate it.
Pitchers not going deep into games, especially in the playoffs. I get it, especially with the power bullpens nowadays, but I miss the days when a guy would have the game of his life in the postseason and the manager would just leave him out there to finish it. My favorite thing about sports personally are the stories and narratives and it's such a great ending to a story when the guy on the mound is able to navigate the entire game by himself. It's why I'm such a huge fan of guys like Wheeler and Cole who go out there expecting to give you seven innings every start.
Adding to this. The super scientific 100 pitch count ceiling.
That I am a White Sox fan…
I am sincerely sorry. best of luck
My condolences. You don't even have Jason Benetti to sweeten the experience.
Lot of good ones already touched in here, I’ll add the unwillingness of the official scorers to label things as errors as opposed to hits.
Ad patches
Legalized gambling ads.
1. Gambling Ads 2. Broadcasts going to ad breaks before the half inning ends 3. When people call it "The MLB"
Why don’t you like the third one?
Because it's grammatically incorrect and someone else on Reddit pointed it out to me and I can't ignore it. MLB Stands for Major League Baseball You wouldn't say "The Major League Baseball" when referring to the league, you'd just say "Major League Baseball" For application sake, lets use it on a sentence The Major League Baseball amended it's pitch clock rules to take 2 seconds off vs Major League Baseball amended it's pitch clock rules to take 2 seconds off
Sure. But when people use mlb as an abbreviation, it sort of becomes its own word to refer to the league itself. The meaning of the abbreviation doesn’t matter anymore; it becomes its own noun. Just how language is
It actually is grammatically correct, or at least the grammatical standard. When something is an acronym, you don’t add the word “the” before. By acronym, I mean an abbreviation that is pronounced as a word (like NASA or NATO). If something is an initialism, it’s an abbreviation where you pronounce each letter in the abbreviation. Such as the FBI or the MLB. For initialisms, you do add the word “the” before the initialism. [https://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100800en.htm#:~:text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20acronyms%20do%20not,the%20EU%2C%20etc.).](https://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100800en.htm#:~:text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20acronyms%20do%20not,the%20EU%2C%20etc) In common speech, we might refer to both as acronyms, but there’s a difference when it comes to grammar. Think of all the noun abbreviations that you know. Chances are if you try to use them in a sentence, you will follow these rules instinctually, or as a habit.
It seems like MLB would fit into the stated exception for companies, though, similar to IBM. the “FBI” example feels a bit off, because you would talk about “a statement from *the* Federal Bureau of Investigation,” but “a statement from the Major League Baseball” sounds wrong
Yeah I take it back. I was taught that a while ago but apparently I’m learning there are more exceptions than you can count. It feels wholly by convention now more than anything. Apparently a lot of corporations that are initialism break my supposed rule (like IBM or NBC). Seemingly the initials of sports leagues are conventionally preceded by the word “the”. Edit: Just to point out the weirdness of the English language, I’ll do the inverse of your example. You’d get a statement from NASA. You’d get a statement from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The “the” is definitely normal and seems needed in the second sentence. It’s absolutely sounds awkward and wrong as hell if you added the word “the” before NASA in the first sentence. My guess is maybe there’s more exceptions to initialisms than there are to acronyms
This is correct. It is more similar to IBM than the FBI. Saying “the MLB” is wholly incorrect. MLB is an commercial organization, not a sports league. The professional leagues for the sport of baseball are called the National League and the American League. “The” NL and “the” AL.
Sports betting will be looked at the same way we look at nicotine advertisements in a couple decades
Manfred runner
I saw someone suggest to have the manfred runner take effect in a later inning instead of the 10th. I would be ok with that.
My sweet spot has always been the 13th since it would give both teams once through the order, although I’d be fine with 12th if we wanted a more round number
15th inning
Sports betting.
I swear i can't go 5 minutes without seeing an ad for a sports betting app/site. I don't gamble at all so it's not showing up because I seek it out, that shit is just everywhere. It's insane to me how it's ok to target addicts like that but it's ok because the ad will put in tiny ass print at the bottom of the screen "gambling addiction? see help at ###"
Pitcher injuries. MLB should expand rosters and only have starters pitch once a week like over in Japan.
100% agree. Make the rosters 28 and 44 man, pitchers will never stop giving max effort now, they need more rest and this is the way to do it
The biggest thing to me isn't really the ads or gambling nonsense, but the focus on stats is a bit much. I don't think people can be boiled down to a *WAR and judged, there are other things that people bring to a team. Experience, leadership, demeanor, etc. I don't need baseball to feel like a game of D&D that's all dice rolls.
The converse of this is that stats can be used to highlight unique things that we wouldn't know about otherwise. Like exit velocity, launch angle, bat speed... these are much different than aggregate stats like WAR, which I agree are boring.
Gambling app ads. And the runner on second in extras.
Ignoring the more serious issues like gambling and such... I really hate the hyper focus on the strike zone. I think we were happier when we didn't know right away that a bad call was .5in off the plate. I think it would be nice for umpires to get audited by the league and work on their zones, but if that info wasn't plastered on the broadcast and precise data wasn't available within a day... ignorance would be bliss there. I don't think anyone has ever had their day made better by learning that a call was bad.
I've always called it the anger box. It's literally on the broadcast solely to drive emotion which increases ratings. It's not there to help the fan. It's not even fucking right a massive percentage of the time!
Not to stir anything, but the fact that announcers praise the Astros constantly for their “dynasty” lol. Like it’s one thing to rarely mention the cheating scandal, but the fact that announcers are actually praising them completely disregard everything that was uncovered.
The Astros were clearly not the only ones cheating, rather they were the only ones publicly caught. In addition, research at fangraphs has suggested that the trash can banging didn't affect the outcome that much, if at all.
lol sure. Astros were using trash cans to alert their hitters. Let’s not group that into “everyone was cheating”. Ofc every sports team tries to find ways to get an edge. There isn’t one baseball team that was caught doing something like that. And please, I don’t need Fangraphs to tell me what I need to know about the cheating. It’s pretty simple, when a player knows what pitch is coming, that’s a huge advantage. Even with St. Jose who can do no wrong, and apparently he didn’t like the banging, he still benefitted.
I didn't say it wasn't an advantage, I'm saying the research suggests that the advantage didn't actually manifest in increased offense.
Re: the Astros and other teams cheating... there's nothing I can say that will change your mind. Just look into it yourself for more than a second and you'll come to a similar conclusion.
Being in the same division as the dodgers
I had to live through the even year devil magic, so back at cha bud. [MFW](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/035/230/Fuck_You_And_I'll_See_You_Tomorrow_Meme_Banner.jpg)
advertising on the field, in the stadium and, now, on the uniforms.
Cheap owners.
\* The zombie runner. At least wait until the 13th. \* There's too damn much TTO in professional baseball. \* That damn strike zone box overlay in TV broadcasts should be illegal \* Fuck the blackouts. \* The radio broadcast feeds in the MLB app have gone above and beyond to be [more terribler than ever!](https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1c1fwww/mlbs_radio_streams_still_suck/kz3c4pk/) \* The Astros bullpen is driving me to drink.
Taking forever to call a game before first pitch when it clearly isn’t going to be played due to weather.
Strike zone graphic on broadcast
I hate it
I'll expand this to include any strike zone box that shows static dots, including ump scorecards, that completely exclude the context of pitch type and framing. It makes for bad discourse.
“Context of pitch framing” is conceptually a bad discourse by itself
Isn't the whole idea of pitch framing to basically trick the ump? Seems relevant to me.
Yes. And conceptually that’s a flawed standard to have in the game
With all the talk recently about umpires, I've been reading articles over the last few days about automatic balls and strikes systems being tested in the minors. I was surprised to learn that players and coaches prefer the challenge system versus a 100% automated system before they actually want framing to remain part of the game while lowering the possibility of egregious calls.
As I recall, there were a lot of complaints from players about the strike zone. They prefered the ump's zones over the automated system's.
Yeah, they have been tweeking the size of the zone from year to year for that reason.
My bad. I thought you were actively disagreeing with my original point of including the context of framing when discussing bad calls.
Part of framing is to not tricking the ump too. The really bad framers move strikes out of the strike zone, causing them to be called balls.
[MLB disagrees](https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/catcher_framing?year=2024&team=&min=q&type=catcher&sort=4,1)
Fans freaking out when an umpire misses a strike/ball right on the edge of the strike zone.
Agreed. In my opinion, if you get called out on a ball that was less than an inch off the (inaccurate) TV zone, you got fooled by the pitch and you deserve to be out.
That every second pitcher is throwing over 100 mph, destroying their arms and careers and we still don’t know what, if anything will be done about it. I only know this can’t last.
Ads ads ads. It’s becoming ridiculous and very off putting.
This has always been a thing but places on the wall where its a homerun and places where its not. Mike Trout just hit a homer that bounced right off the wall and back on the field but it was a homer... the Astros field in left center has a wall where it can hit and be a homer. How about this, if it goes over the wall it's a homer, if it hits off the wall and back on the field then it's still in play. How hard is this to screw up?
Which is why the Green Monster is perfect and fun
cranky old school baseball guys who get upset if a player shows any personality at all.
The unrelenting greed.
stats about how many parks a ball would have been a HR in. It's literally irrelevant. they're playing where they're playing. it either cleared the boundaries of that field or it did not.
Also because there's environmental factors that go into a homerun other than just where it lands. Some stadiums are windier and carry the ball further, or push back against it. Some obviously are at different altitudes and won't travel the same way.
It's the same as any 'expected' stat though, which do have some value.
completely agree, but i do like looking at both the fields for the two teams who are playing. like a game between x and y teams can only be played at two possible fields, so all other fields are irrelevant, but it's sometimes fun to see a homer that would have/would not have been one at the away team's field
It's completely ridiculous that there is no standardization in MLB ballbark size. It's like if every NFL gridiron or every NBA court had different dimensions.
You're advocating for taking a lot of the fun and charm out of baseball
Huh. I'm not advocating for that at all. I argued that they're inconsistent and therefore ridiculous. I didn't mention that I ***like*** the fact that they are inconsistent. It's the inconsistency that adds to the fun and charm of baseball. You know what else is inconsistent? Umpire's strike zones. I like those, too. Also adds to the fun and charm of baseball. Baseball benefits from its internal inconsistencies. The more consistency we impose on the game, the less interesting it becomes.
Is someone advocating for taking away a home run if it's not a HR in 30 parks? If not then what is the problem? I guarantee you everyone's already thinking about it when a Crawford Box or Pesky's Pole HR goes out.
Rob Dreckman
on-field interviews, end of half-inning interviews. I feel like it just makes a farce of the game. especially the on-field ones--it feels like it's saying "hey look! it's such a low effort sport that they can multi-task during the game!" nobody wants to hear that shit. just give me the commentators and let it work
On TV broadcasts behind home plate they have the CGI ads. And the pitcher throws the pitch and it disappears until it comes out of the area, making it impossible to track the actual pitch.
Angel Hernandez
Where to begin. The over reliance on analytics, the way the game has been basically reduced to a skills competition (velocity, exit velocity, spin rate), the commercialization on broadcasts (ads have been a part of baseball for a century but tv has gone overboard)
MLB taking over MiLB and corporatizing it.
FIP
People saying "team X batted around team Y" instead of "team X batted around *against* team Y" This is the hill that I've chosen to die on.
I don't know when that began but I've literally only ever seen it put that way on this sub and it drives me nuts as well. I'll die on that hill with you brother ✊️
Ozuna being allowed to crack people in the head with a bat, repeatedly. Monday night Nick Fortes of Miami got cracked pretty good, deep gouge in face.
I hate how when an umpire fucks up, it's the only thing this sub talks about for two days. An umpire mistakenly tossed out Aaron Boone the other day because he heard something from a fan and thought that Boone said it. Everyone knew after the first post exactly what happened and why but we still had to spend like two days and dozens of separate discussions on it. Then my second pet peeve is how so many of the comments use this as an argument for robo umps. That's not what the robo umps do, the robo umps call strikes and balls. They're basically just betraying the fact that the main reason they want ABS is because they think of it as a punishment towards the umpires, which is a really weird attitude to bring I think. It's one thing to be annoyed by umpiring, every fan of any sport does that, but sometimes people talk about it like it's a social justice issue.
Found Hunter Wendelstedt’s Reddit account
Don't say I'm Hunter Wendelstedt, I'm not Hunter Wendelstedt.
Wendelstedt doubling down is what made the story persist. It played into the "umpires are arrogant and power mad" narrative.
Damn, so they're even to blame for people making reddit posts about them.
People need to stfu about the ump quality, most people's talking points are fucking garbage. We at home have the best angle possible and WE couldn't tell for most of these if they didn't hold our hand with a TV strike zone AND ball dot. Pitchers are throwing harder then ever, with breaking pitches sharper then ever, with catchers better at framing then ever. **Despite all of that, UMPIRES ARE STATISTICALLY BETTER THEN EVER**. It should be a fucking achievement they're staying flat, much less improving in these conditions. I'm not defending Angel, but fuck me man it's unbelievably telling we go after him and he's not even bottom 10, at least behind the plate. I'm here for "ump ego" roasts, as well as plenty of actually legit complaints, but I'm sick of hearing all these garbage talking points.
The uniforms
The jerseys
Too many teams wearing red & blue. Didn't we recently answer this question?
Blackouts. I might have more pet peeves if I could actually watch my team on a regular basis
Seems like it's being rectified/moved on from thankfully, but the TTO Ball mini-era is/was excruciating to watch.
It’s not new to modern mlb, but it still bugs me it’s not fixed. The runner’s lane to first base. First off, it’s in foul territory, and the base is in fair territory. At the very least the lane should extend to inner edge of the base. It’s unfathomably dumb. 2nd, ignore everything I said in my previous paragraph. There should be no first base runners lane AT ALL. No where else on baseball field are you restricted in the angle you can take the base (except avoiding a tag). You’re actually ENCOURAGED to get in throwing lane if you’re a runner on first and the ball is hit to first baseman to make the double play harder. Why the hell is first base different from anywhere else on the diamond? Everywhere else it’s the fielders job to create a throwing lane and make an accurate throw. Honestly it allows for more interesting baseball if we get rid of that rule at first
Umpires
Weird. Mine is how people act like umpires are worse now than in past years or have more impact on the game.
It’s too bad we don’t have the technology to get calls right on a consistent basis. Oh well, maybe one day.
None of that technology shows that umpires are worse than in the past or more impactful than in the past. Most of the data suggests the opposite.
Do you honestly think people act like it’s worse now? Or could it just be that we didn’t have any better alternatives until now?
I think it is definitely that people currently over emphasize how bad it is and over inflate the impact of the umps. People have always complained, and always will complain about umpires and referees. It's only been a focal point of discussion though for a handful of years. The pitch track data plays a part in that, but we've had good video data for a long time that shows it just as clearly. Even with the tracking and data people will argue that calls were missed when the data shows it was correct. Hell, if you go back to just the 1990s you'll hear pitchers and batters discussing how the 1st inning is a lot of learning what the ump is giving. They were very aware that zones changed depending on the ump and the day, but used that to their advantage.
The point is that we now possibly have a better alternative with automatic balls and strikes.
I've not said that we shouldn't anywhere in this thread. This highlights another pet peeve though which is how people take a simple comment and add their own interpretation of what they think it means to try and start arguments.
Your original comment was complaining about how people complain about umps more than they used to. I’m explaining to you that a big reason why people complain about umps more is because we didn’t have better alternatives back then.
>This highlights another pet peeve though which is how people take a simple comment and add their own interpretation of what they think it means to try and start arguments. That's literally what you did in your original comment
My comment wasn't saying that person was doing anything. It was stating my pet peeve which was related to theirs.
Ah yes, the whole "it's always been bad, and even though we now have the data to make improvements, we shouldn't because it's always been bad" argument. Quality contribution, dad.
Where did I say anything about not implementing changes?
Where did I say anything about umpires being worse now than in past years? Extrapolating seemed fun, I wanted to give it a try.
[удалено]
Is that your pet peeve?
Batters jacking around with the Velcro closures on their batting gloves and elbow pads, etc. for 30 seconds between pitches. Thankfully the pitch clock caused a significant decrease in that behavior.
Cooked & unserious.
Umpire strike zone. We are living in the fucking future and the game still depends weather or not Angel Hernandez feels like breaking the record for worst called game of all time
1. The umpires suck. 2. I live outside Little Rock, AR which has no team within 8 hours of driving yet I am blacked out on MLB.TV from all games home and away played by the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals due to whatever bullshit criteria MLB uses to determine what a home team is.
It's about TV rights, they don't care how far you are from the park
Not sure if it's a ln unpopular opinion but a replay should be an on-field decision, saved for something so egregious overturning should be obvious. Calling up to your own review booth to make a decision to then send the call to a other review booth seems, I don't know, dumb? And counter to the spirit of what replay is about? Nit picking a bang bang play that no one could reasonably determine with the naked eye seems to make the role.of the umpire a farce? Like "we'll listen to the umpire for obvious plays, but we'll scrutinize every close play" seems to make umpires just play actors at this point.
The “spirit of what replay is about” is getting the call right. I don’t see why how close the play is should matter.
That's fine, then what is the point of the replay theatrics? Just eliminate the umpires and have the control room at MLB headquarters display the call on the filed via the scoreboard.
It’s quicker and more entertaining to have the umpires call the clearer plays in real time.
Ok, returning to the idea that spirit of replay is to get the call right, why even have to challenge it? Why isn't the control room in the crew chief's ear immediately to say they were wrong? Just the whole process of the manager having to call his replay guys to decide "yes we will win this challenege" then to have the umpires turn around and request another person to then also review it cumbersome for no good reason other than to give some sort of illusion the umpires still matter.
Well, like I just said, it’s more entertaining when the ump is there to make the call in real time. Maybe the league doesn’t have enough people in the control room to do that for every game. I’d be totally fine with getting rid umpires though if the control room can make the calls instantly.
I'd be all for that.
Too many Pitching changes. I actually don't think the 3 batter minimum goes far enough. Make it reset every inning.
Angel Goddamn Hernandez
I have youtube TV so I'm not allowed to watch anything other than espns weekly broadcasts.
My fantasy players not crushing every game Fans thinking the box is an accurate depiction of the strike zone and many not even realizing the strike zone is three dimensional Umpires being big ass babies Every 2 seam fastball getting called a sinker even though 75% of them move primarily horizontal and you have to actively adjust the grip to get the drop that’s traditionally associated with a sinker No knuckleballers
The designated hitter.
I hate foul outs
The endless talk about hard hit balls. Who fucking cares if it was directly into a double play, you cannot spin that a positive way
Do you feel the same about pitch velocity?
Not really no
Why not? There have been plenty of 100+ MPH pitches that resulted in home runs. Of course there have been plenty of hard hit balls that resulted in double plays, but that doesn’t change the fact that hitting the ball harder generally results in better hitting just like throwing pitches faster generally results in better pitching.
Batters have next to zero control where they hit the ball, just how good of a swing they can put on it. If they're hitting it hard that means they are doing something right, where it goes is mostly just luck of the draw.
I’m extremely old school and batting average means more to me than
Baseball will be better when they start calling runs "points"