Quote:
Originally Posted by Déjà Bru
Correct . . . for now. Perhaps I extrapolated into the future a bit too quickly so your point stands. For now.
My general point also stands, however. With today's technology even, but certainly with what is just around the corner, all of what you gave as examples could be automated and adjudicated without human intervention.
If we allow it. You know what? Good and bad umpires, kind and grumpy umpires, sharp-eyed and nearly blind umpires, have been part of the game since the beginning. It's yet another human aspect of a human game. Baseball has ways to discipline truly bad umpires but the rest pose a challenge of difficulty to players which they must learn, adjust to, and overcome. Why not?
Remote play review is different. It uses technology, yes, but it's still humans making the judgment calls based on better looks at plays. That I can agree with but to remove the human involvement altogether so that a machine makes the calls, well, that crosses a line with me.
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I understand your point, but give me an example of how you'd have a computer call a close play at the plate. Or catcher interference.
You can't, not without having a "Human" watch the replay and determine if the runner was out or safe, or if the catchers mitt barely touched the bat.
Human intervention will always be required to some extent.
As for hitters overcoming and adapting. Well, MLB doesn't seem too interested in that. Their idea of "adapting" is to ban the shift, rather than force players to learn how to hit.
I'd be happy if they would spend more time & money training Umps and getting a more consistent strike zone.
Myself I don't like automation, but fighting it is a waste of time. It's coming more and more and there's nothing we can do about it. I still can't stand instant replay. It's driven me away from watching sports and ruined my enjoyment of the games.
I like human error in sports, but I don't like every official have their own interpretation of what a strike zone is. MLB makes a sizable profit, so spend some that to better train your umpires I say.
Far too many strike outs and home runs in baseball now. Home runs used to be exciting, now they're so common you can start watching in the 7th inning and you'll still see a few. Wow....... look, he hit a home run.
