The 2016 World Series was outstanding and game seven will stand out as one of the best....a questionable pitching change by Chicago's manager has been the hot topic.
The World Series showed baseball fans where the real strike zone is.
Baseball fans got the true picture of the baseball strike zone with television showing the zone and where the ball is pitched.
This entire discussion all comes down to today's baseball standards that balls and strikes are presently all judged by the eyes of the home plate umpire.
The umpire......everyone's favorite punching bag and scapegoat where the deck has always been stacked against umpires and, to be fair, it is built into the very nature of the game of baseball.
With today's baseball's telecasts we all get to see whether the pitched ball is a ball or strike with the little box to the left on your TV screen showing the exact location of the pitch.
Some Independent baseball leagues have been testing using a computer to call balls and strikes thus taking the human element out of baseball.
This is of course the same technology used by Major League Baseball television broadcasts.
There are many in the sport that have been pushing for a computerized strike zone for years....just like instant replay was.
For better or worse, the role of the umpire is slowly diminishing, just look at the method now used by managers who dispute the call of any umpire and the call is reviewed by an umpire crew in New York who then make the call.
The advancement of technology almost demands that, because we can, we should get every call on the field correct.......and that includes balls and strikes.
With Pitch F/X in every ball park now, it's not only evaluating players but it's also evaluating the boys in blue.
We've reached a point where every single pitch called behind the plate can instantly be determined to be right or wrong.
This all is relatively new....it's scary, and it's also unfair. After all, umpires are human and to expect them to call a game perfectly every time is ludicrous but they are now being held to an impossible standard by players and fans alike and something has to give.
Baseball will not be able to withstand the outside pressure of people demanding a perfectly officiated game and could very well see somewhere down the road an automated strike zone.
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