2025 MLB Season

[MU82]

Have fun with that - they will be hot until August, then fade and miss the playoffs.

Not this year, pal!

[#UnleashSean]

I'll ask this only because it looks on video that way...

Was that a suicide attempt in Pittsburgh?

I don't say that jokingly at all.

A post from reddit -

"I was sitting 5 rows behind him.

He was drunk

Inning before he ripped his shirt off and poured half a beer all over himself.

He jumped up from his seat when the pirates got the hit, he jumped up so quick, while being drunk, he literally propelled himself off the ledge.

He didn't do it on purpose and no one pushed him. He was there with his girlfriend, a friend and another lady. The friend ran to the lower deck in centerfield and jumped on the field."

Honestly one of my greatest fears at numerous places. Railings are way to low while standing. Something like what happened to the fan as gone through my head a hundred times at venues with tall heights and low railings. The Pabst theatre absolutely comes to mind as one of the biggest offenders.

[MU82]

Interesting article in The Athletic about how the strike zone has shrunk a bit this season.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6328105/2025/05/01/mlb-umpire-strike-zone-buffer-zone-change/?



Here's the start of the article:

In the winter, Major League Baseball negotiated a seemingly simple change in how home-plate umpires are graded and evaluated. But now, a month into the season, its impact on balls and strikes has players asking questions about what they believe is a tightened strike zone — and searching for ways to adjust to a new wrinkle they say caught them by surprise.

That change, which was part of a new labor agreement with the Major League Umpires Association, significantly decreased the margin of error for umpires in their evaluations — and has resulted in fewer called strikes off the edges of the plate through the same point as last season.

"Everybody's zone has shrunk," Angels catcher Travis d'Arnaud told The Athletic. "Every (umpire) across the league."

The actual number of pitches affected is relatively small. But the reaction — from pitchers, catchers, pitching coaches and analytics-driven front offices — has been anything but. They say the shift in how balls and strikes are now called is already having an impact on game-planning, pitch sequencing, pitch framing techniques, evaluation models and even roster construction.

For the past two decades, umpires were working with a "buffer zone" that gave them 2 inches of leeway — on all sides of the plate, just off the strike zone — when they were graded on how accurately they called balls and strikes.

Now, however, that buffer zone has shrunk, from 2 inches on all sides to just three-quarters of an inch on all sides, inside and outside the strike zone, according to league sources briefed on the change but not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. An MLB official confirmed that the buffer zone had decreased in size.

The intent of the buffer zone change is simple: to call the rulebook strike zone more accurately. But the real-life impact seems to have caught pitchers and catchers in particular off guard, even though the definition of the actual strike zone remains the same.

"I was unaware of that," Phillies reliever Matt Strahm said of the change. "I thought everything was going to be normal after spring (training, when MLB tested an electronic ball-strike challenge system). Go back to what we've been doing. I guess I wasn't aware that the (buffer zone) has shrunk."

An MLB official said, "The rulebook strike zone has not changed and we have not instructed umpires to call a different strike zone. In response to consistent player and club desire to have umpires evaluated more closely to the rulebook strike zone, we agreed with the MLB Umpires Association in their new CBA to reduce the size of the 'buffer' around the border of the strike zone, which essentially protects an umpire from being graded 'incorrect' on extremely close misses.

"We informed the GMs and Field Managers that we were seeking this change during the offseason," the official said, "and again informed the Clubs when the umpire CBA was ratified. Overall ball-strike accuracy in 2025 is the highest it has ever been through this point in the season."

[#UnleashSean]

Interesting article in The Athletic about how the strike zone has shrunk a bit this season.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6328105/2025/05/01/mlb-umpire-strike-zone-buffer-zone-change/?



Here's the start of the article:

In the winter, Major League Baseball negotiated a seemingly simple change in how home-plate umpires are graded and evaluated. But now, a month into the season, its impact on balls and strikes has players asking questions about what they believe is a tightened strike zone — and searching for ways to adjust to a new wrinkle they say caught them by surprise.

That change, which was part of a new labor agreement with the Major League Umpires Association, significantly decreased the margin of error for umpires in their evaluations — and has resulted in fewer called strikes off the edges of the plate through the same point as last season.

"Everybody's zone has shrunk," Angels catcher Travis d'Arnaud told The Athletic. "Every (umpire) across the league."

The actual number of pitches affected is relatively small. But the reaction — from pitchers, catchers, pitching coaches and analytics-driven front offices — has been anything but. They say the shift in how balls and strikes are now called is already having an impact on game-planning, pitch sequencing, pitch framing techniques, evaluation models and even roster construction.

For the past two decades, umpires were working with a "buffer zone" that gave them 2 inches of leeway — on all sides of the plate, just off the strike zone — when they were graded on how accurately they called balls and strikes.

Now, however, that buffer zone has shrunk, from 2 inches on all sides to just three-quarters of an inch on all sides, inside and outside the strike zone, according to league sources briefed on the change but not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. An MLB official confirmed that the buffer zone had decreased in size.

The intent of the buffer zone change is simple: to call the rulebook strike zone more accurately. But the real-life impact seems to have caught pitchers and catchers in particular off guard, even though the definition of the actual strike zone remains the same.

"I was unaware of that," Phillies reliever Matt Strahm said of the change. "I thought everything was going to be normal after spring (training, when MLB tested an electronic ball-strike challenge system). Go back to what we've been doing. I guess I wasn't aware that the (buffer zone) has shrunk."

An MLB official said, "The rulebook strike zone has not changed and we have not instructed umpires to call a different strike zone. In response to consistent player and club desire to have umpires evaluated more closely to the rulebook strike zone, we agreed with the MLB Umpires Association in their new CBA to reduce the size of the 'buffer' around the border of the strike zone, which essentially protects an umpire from being graded 'incorrect' on extremely close misses.

"We informed the GMs and Field Managers that we were seeking this change during the offseason," the official said, "and again informed the Clubs when the umpire CBA was ratified. Overall ball-strike accuracy in 2025 is the highest it has ever been through this point in the season."

Jomboy does a very good breakdown of just how small the strike zone is on the robo umps. I'm guessing the tightening of the zone has something to do with that.

[TallTitan34]

Anyone see the Reds outfielder break his arm while trying to make a sliding catch into the wall?

They ruled it a drop and the batter got an inside the parker, but I'm not so sure that wasn't a catch.  In my opinion, he still had the ball through the fall to the ground, then released it when he looked to see his new elbow.

[MU82]

From Yahoo Sports:

The Giants scored 9 runs in the 11th inning of their 14-5 win over the Cubs, tied for the fifth-largest margin of victory in extra innings in the last 125 years. Cubs closer Ryan Pressly allowed all nine runs without recording an out, seeing his ERA balloon from 2.08 to 7.62.

Meanwhile, Chicago's other team found yet another way to lose, as White Sox 2B Chase Meidroth missed a routine pop-up ... and the ball bounced off his head. That sparked a KC rally that led to a Royals' comeback win.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/white-sox-find-new-way-to-lose-as-9th-inning-pop-up-bounces-off-2b-chase-meidroths-head-041708326.html?

[WhiteTrash]

From Yahoo Sports:

The Giants scored 9 runs in the 11th inning of their 14-5 win over the Cubs, tied for the fifth-largest margin of victory in extra innings in the last 125 years. Cubs closer Ryan Pressly allowed all nine runs without recording an out, seeing his ERA balloon from 2.08 to 7.62.

Meanwhile, Chicago's other team found yet another way to lose, as White Sox 2B Chase Meidroth missed a routine pop-up ... and the ball bounced off his head. That sparked a KC rally that led to a Royals' comeback win.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/white-sox-find-new-way-to-lose-as-9th-inning-pop-up-bounces-off-2b-chase-meidroths-head-041708326.html?

Hey, don't rain on my parade. The Sox are pace for a very respectable 45 win season.

[tower912]

White Sox on a pace to finish 17 games in front of the Rockies.

[MU82]

The Mariners erased a 5-0 deficit to beat the A's 6-5 yesterday and have now won 9 straight series. First time they've done that since 2001, the year they won 116 games (but flamed out in the playoffs).

[Jockey]

Shocking that the owners of the Pirates are blaming the manager rather than themselves.

[MU82]

Rafael Devers ... quite a leader and team player. All at a cost of only $313.5 million.

[JWags85]

Rafael Devers ... quite a leader and team player. All at a cost of only $313.5 million.

I'm historically usually pretty forgiving for a lot of player complaints.  Slow to get to "shut up and play" or "how can you complain when you're making that much money" cause I can rationalize what a different set of circumstances it is professionally.

That being said...Ive looked at multiple articles and quotes about this and can't find any angle that doesn't make Devers look like a whiney malcontent.  He's not being benched.  He's already playing DH, so its not like he's some great fielder sad about being moved from his marquee position.  And he's not in a contract year.  Just a lazy loser attitude.

Meanwhile, you have a guy like Tatis who has been moved around multiple times in the field and in the order and instead became a GG at his new position and on pace for another career year.

[MU82]

I'm historically usually pretty forgiving for a lot of player complaints.  Slow to get to "shut up and play" or "how can you complain when you're making that much money" cause I can rationalize what a different set of circumstances it is professionally.

That being said...Ive looked at multiple articles and quotes about this and can't find any angle that doesn't make Devers look like a whiney malcontent.  He's not being benched.  He's already playing DH, so its not like he's some great fielder sad about being moved from his marquee position.  And he's not in a contract year.  Just a lazy loser attitude.

Meanwhile, you have a guy like Tatis who has been moved around multiple times in the field and in the order and instead became a GG at his new position and on pace for another career year.

Same. I'm usually pretty tolerant about this kind of thing and generally am more likely to side with players than management.

But this is NFL diva WR kind of crud. I hope he strikes out 3x a game.