UMPIRES ARE GARBAGE. BASEBALL IS SAVED.
UMPIRES ARE GARBAGE. BASEBALL IS SAVED.
By Muntradamus
BEAST DOME NATION.
If there’s one thing bringing real joy to my heart this Spring Training, it’s this:
Batters and pitchers/catchers can finally challenge balls and strikes.
About damn time.
Anyone who’s ever bet baseball knows the truth. You don’t just lose parlays because players fail. You lose because umpires hijack games.
I can’t count how many tickets I’ve torn up because someone behind the plate decided today was a “wide zone” kind of day. Sometimes a pitcher was hot he would keep getting calls, or the respected hitter would get a different strike zone.
For years, betting baseball felt less like betting on teams and more like betting against umpires.
Now that’s changing.
During MLB Spring Training, we’ve already seen over 350 challenges, and roughly 53% of them have overturned the original call.
Read that again.
Umpires are wrong more than half the time on challenged pitches.
That’s insane.
That’s not a small margin.
That’s not nitpicking.
That’s game altering, bankroll destroying error.
Entire innings swing on a blown strike three or a phantom ball four. Momentum flips. Pitch counts explode. Starters get pulled early. Parlays die.
And fans are just supposed to accept it?
Not anymore.
Now there’s accountability.
A batter taps the helmet.
A catcher signals.
The system checks the pitch.
No arguing.
No ego.
Just facts.
Is it perfect? No.
The Only Downfall
It takes a little too long.
There’s a brief pause while the pitch gets reviewed, and baseball already struggles with pace of play. Rhythm matters. Flow matters.
But if we’re talking about adding 10 to 15 seconds to get the call right instead of letting an umpire’s bad day decide a game, I’ll take that trade every single time.
Because this is just the bridge.
The real future is full time robot umpires.
Once automated balls and strikes become permanent across Major League Baseball, baseball finally becomes what it’s supposed to be.
A talent-based sport.
Pitchers will have to paint.
Hitters will have to hit.
Catchers won’t steal calls.
Gamblers won’t get robbed.
No more guessing strike zones.
No more mood-based officiating.
No more losing money because someone missed a pitch by four inches.
Eventually, challenges disappear. Delays disappear. Arguments disappear.
It becomes instant.
It becomes automated.
It becomes accurate.
That’s when baseball is truly saved.
Until then, this is a massive step forward.