Robot Umpires in AAA

Boo!!!

That’s sacrilege. It’s too bad that humans make mistakes, but that’s human nature.

Player bots next? We can’t have any errors. No, no, no.

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I’d rather have real umps making mistakes than bots….hate the idea.

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I think the computers should call balls & strikes through the buzzer in the ump’s hand and the ump should call all other plays.

Wildly inconsistent strike zones drive me nuts!

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Hopefully that experiment joins the 61’6" mound in the scrap heap. The game is great as it is

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The leagues will still be in control so I wouldn’t expect to see much of a difference. 3-0 pitches 2" outside will probably still be called strikes, 0-2 pitches over the plate & just above the knees will probably still be called balls. I just don’t believe most blown calls are “mistakes”.

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Will the bot determine if a pitched ball slightly nicks the batter’s jersey?

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They were already using an electronic strike zone in the American League.

Now AAA is following suit, I guess.

That’s why I say the computers just call balls & strikes… They’re way more accurate AND CONSISTENT.

ALL OTHER PLAYS the ump calls… And the ump can still yell out “STEEEERRRIKE THREEEEE!!!”

Player bots exactly. What an outrage. Is absolutely nothing sacred these days? You’ve stripped away all meaning from everything but you still have to take baseball, too? Damn you to places unspeakable.

This may be a hot take but I’d be all for robot baseball lol

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I agree with you on this. I don’t think most blown calls by the umps are mistakes as they are nearly always made against the team that is less popular with less fanbase and less money. For example, you don’t see too many blown calls made against the Yankees, but you definitely see many many blown calls made against their opponents. There is nothing more irritating in baseball than to see the umps consistently being inconsistent with their strike and ball calls and they are always consistently favoring major market teams, such as the Yankees and the Red Sox. Because of that fact I never believe most of these inconsistencies in the way the umps call strikes and balls are an accident. It’s about time we use technology to make the game more fair instead of continuing to allow humans that are corruptible to decide the outcomes of the games.

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MLB is a business, and I personally believe they will do whatever they can to maximize profits. That means getting the teams to the World Series that will have the highest tv ratings so that Fox, or whichever network is broadcasting the games, can charge more for commercials.
With replay challenges, they can’t get away with things like the obvious fan interference no-call that helped the yankees beat the Orioles in the '96 ALCS, or the ridiculous fred brocklander call that helped the mets beat the Astros in the '86 NLCS. I think that ties into the Astros and Red Sox being investigated for cheating. MLB didn’t go after the two teams most suspected of cheating (the gLAsshouse gang and the commissioner’s team). They went after the two teams that in recent years had been keeping the commissioner’s team from reaching the World Series. It looks to me like they just replaced the instant gratification of blown calls with attempts to weaken the competition in future seasons. If there’s a will, there’s a way.
In my opinion, using technology like this is just MLB trying to appease critics, and as long as MLB controls the technology, nothing will really change.

No robots in baseball for me…going too far with taking the human element out of the game…hard pass

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I see it a little different. I think MLB itself is fairly neutral. Now the media interests that provide the league’s funding definitely have a vested interest in getting the LA/NY teams through to the series. However they haven’t been very successful at doing so. Small and mid-major market teams run baseball.

Any problem with instant replay in baseball?
The objective is to “get it right.”
The robot should be used as data point to the umpire and certainly as a way to evaluate umps.

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How are the human elements out of the game when all of the players, coaches, and fans are still humans? If reducing the element of human beings cheating for one team over another than I am thrilled to get rid of that shady element!

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27 World Series titles by the Yankees proved you’re wrong in your analysis.

20 of those were won in a 40-year span between 1923-1962, pre-television or instant replay when blown calls couldn’t be scrutinized. As bold as MLB has been in recent years, I can only imagine how bad it was back then.

1 title in the last 20 years, same as the Dodgers. And thats even with both teams spending 2-6x that of most of the league. So again if the TV networks are trying to rig the sport they’re doing a bad job of it.