Two immediately come to mind so far during the current Major League Baseball playoff rounds: one a check swing called a game-ending strike three and a blown call that should have ended an inning but instead gave a good team a second chance….

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Giants trailing 2–1, Gabe Morales called a decisive third strike on an apparent check swing by Giants infielder Wilmer Flores, resulting in a strikeout that ended San Francisco’s 107-win season. The Giants had a runner on first base. After Max Scherzer’s pitch—a slider out of the strike zone—home plate umpire Doug Eddings signaled to Morales for help on the call. Morales determined that Flores went far enough around for a strike, but video showed that he checked his swing.
— Sports Illustrated, 10/15/21

Laz Diaz made a strike call so bad on Tuesday night that he let Alex Cora come out and scream about it without ejecting the Boston manager. If only Cora and Boston knew what was to come later on in the evening.

In the top of the ninth inning, with Game 4 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and Astros tied at 2-2, Nathan Eovaldi was looking to pitch out of his own jam and end his relief appearance with a curveball to pinch hitter Jason Castro. Eovaldi threw the perfect pitch, and he began his walk to the dugout. Only the strike three call from Diaz never came. The umpire called it ball two. Two pitches later, Castro ripped Eovaldi’s 88 mph splitter into center field, driving in what proved to be the winning run of the ballgame.
— CBS Boston, 10/20/21

Before a suggestion is presented, a couple issues need be addressed.

One question is why baseball umpires are allowed to make so many mistakes during the course of a game, let alone the season?

The MLB Umpire Union is more powerful than the NBA’s , NFL’s and NHL’s officials because their level of accountability has a significant chasm between MLB Umpires Union and the other league’s officials. For instance, MLB home plate umpires are “allowed” to determine their “own strike zone” but every other major sport has a strict adherence to the established rules and those officials are constantly “graded” to ensure a higher quality is maintained. Those officials in the other leagues not meeting this passing grade, soon find themselves replaced by more qualified officials. Only the highest graded officials (by the governing body and coaches) are allowed to officiate playoff and championships games. MLB allows their officials to participate at the championship levels strictly on a rotational basis where there minimal incentives to be graded the “best” and be rewarded for extra bonuses for officiating these playoff and W.S. Games.
— Terence Imai, Quora

I originally found that insightful answer while trying to see if their was a clinical correlation between very visual obesity and umpires of questionable performance. Imai continued….

The other sports requires their officials to cover a larger field of play along with having to constantly be in motion either running or skating to ensure all infractions are identified and properly accessed in a timely matter. Baseball officials only cover a relatively smaller area and their fitness is not required when compared to the other sports.

Yeah, no shit.

So, the million dollar could be “Could obesity affect eyesight” especially when it comes to MLB umpires?

Umpires aren’t specifically addressed because no one appears to have asked the Union, possibly for good reason….

Studies show that obesity increases the risk of serious eye diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, wet macular degeneration and glaucoma.
— Optometrists.org

Among different eye diseases, obesity has been linked with age-related cataract, glaucoma, age-related maculopathy, and diabetic retinopathy. Numerous population-based and prospective studies support an association between obesity and risk of age-related cataract. There is strong evidence that obesity is associated with elevated intraocular pressure, but there is no convincing data to support a more direct association between obesity and glaucomatous optic neuropathy.
—– National Institutes of Health

The nation’s twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes are beginning to rob more Americans of their sight, a new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association shows. Researchers defined impairment as anything worse than 20/40 vision that can’t be corrected with glasses, a problem that disqualifies people from driving in many states.
— USA Today, 12/10/12

If you decide to do a deeper dive, you’ll find news stories of umpires who’ve passed away and you can guess what a consistent cause was.

So as long as we retain that “human element”, we’ll have bad calls in sports. But that’s not to say the damage can’t be minimized.

One Possible Remedy…?

How about during MLB playoff games from the ninth inning on, every pitch is subject to review AFTER the second strike has been called. That way, someone monitoring in New York can push a button and a red light comes on, stopping play on the field while that ball or strike is reviewed. Heaven forbid an egregious blown call potentially affect the outcome of a game or season. Sure, it will add a few more minutes to a game but with so much on the line, every effort should be made to assure the calls are correct.

Is that too much to ask?

In the case of the #SpyGate scandal, there were a very few active head coaches who publicly went on record to excoriate the Patriots. Now with Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Astros and Red Sox, there are also very few other managers around the league who are piling on  A.J. Hinch or Alex Cora and like in the football scandal, it begs the question. Why?

Could it be because a lot of other teams do it and just haven’t been caught yet or their teams are still really bad despite any supposed advantage?

And let’s not conveniently let the high-and-mighties in the MLB front office off the hook because THEY have allowed sign stealing to be that much easier. Major League Baseball licenses out the games for broadcast and have the ultimate say on how games and teams are presented to the public. There are certain things MLB doesn’t allow, like live cameras in the clubhouse before, during or after games. There are no live microphones in the clubhouses, dugouts or bullpens during that same time. So, if there was a camera or mic in place that could potentially alter the outcome of a game, one would think MLB would take the appropriate action and remove that device.

From back in the early broadcast days until present, we made do with one center field camera angle to the plate….

But thanks to innovation, we now have 4K cameras that can zoom way in to give color blabbermouths so much more to talk about and make it so much easier for those on the team whose job it was to steal signs.

Seriously, what genius in the MLB front office approved of this shot and we now get it dozens of times during every Major League Baseball broadcast, local and national? The same geniuses who are now pointing fingers of authority elsewhere….

The Boston Red Sox used their video replay room to steal signs from opposing pitchers and catchers during their 2018 World Series championship season, according to a report published Tuesday by The Athletic.
— ESPN 1/7/20

Will this be addressed by Major League Baseball in their findings and will the elimination of the unnecessary cosmetic shot be on the agenda during the Winter Meetings?

Teams that didn’t win the World Series (or even make it to the playoffs) will be the first to whine that cheating was the factor. It was also retorted during the #Spygate controversy that no matter how many signs are stolen, players have to still perform of the field. Seeing how sign stealing has been done by all teams since the birth of the baseball, if your team still loses you can’t blame the achievers.

Baseball is a sport built on mediocrity. The best hitters, who command contracts that eclipse $300 million for a few precious years, are lucky if they can hit a consistent .300 batting average. Anything above that puts those players into the elite class. But for any other employee of almost any other job, a 30% rate of performance would’ve had you being fired within a couple months. Tipping a batter off that the next pitch will be either a breaking ball or fastball is huge but that hitter still has to make contact. Anyone who’s watched a Home Run Derby knows that throws straight over the plate aren’t always sent out of the park, thus the intrigue of the event.

While a general manager and two (possibly three?) managers are being publicly strung up in the town square for public ridicule, let’s not let those high-priced athletes off the hook. Many knew about the electronic sign stealing, were okay with it and are now clamming up.

Citing three anonymous people who were with the Red Sox in 2018, The Athletic reported that Boston players would visit the replay room to decipher their opponents’ sign sequence and then relay the information to the dugout.

Just because a few players are sounding off doesn’t reflect the vast majority who have and will relay catcher signs they see while standing on second base, as has been done for decades which is why signs are always being changed during the course of a game.

Athlete salaries are astronomical, the average career is not that long, and consistent performance is not guaranteed in a game based on mediocrity. The dirty little secret is as long as there’s professional sports, every team will push the rules for any competitive advantage. Baseball is no different. Catchers will continue to trot out to the mound to have that talk with pitchers, base coaches will continue to brush dust off their sleeves and tap their ears and noses, and opposing players will try to decipher the dance and relay that information back to their dugout. Major League Baseball shouldn’t allow sign stealing to be easier and then bitch about it.

Is this shot really necessary, or maybe a better wording would be if it would be missed? Some baseball fans may enjoy the intrigue of not knowing what the pitcher will throw and what the batter may or may not be expecting. But if this camera angle isn’t shown on the ballpark jumbotron, then it’s not all that necessary at home.

Then we can back to the old fashioned sign stealing everybody knows happens and no one really gives a damn about.