Well Maybe,,,,
Both Nathan Evoldi and Joey Cora thought that Evoldi had struck out Jason Castro - but ,,, Laz Diaz the Home-plate umpire called the pitch a ball..... Castro then singled to center scoring the Go ahead run and from there the flood gates opened and the Astros scored 7 runs in the Inning there-by tying up the ALCS 2 game to 2 and ensuring that the Series will at the very least go back to Houston....
and so THAT pitch was extreemly important.... but there were according to ESPN 23 missed calls in the game by Diaz - the most of this post Season ..... the break down was 12 on the Red sox and 11 on the Astros.... so essentially 50 - 50 - but you can make the case that all strikes are not created equal.... that missed strike, may have,, and I am saying may have ,,, cause you can't know what would have happened after that.... you can't just ASSUME that the Sox would have scored in the bottom of the 9th,,, and oh BTW - the score was only 3 - 2 at that point,, Sox pitching did not have to give up 4 more hits , 6 more runs , before getting the 3rd out....
However - let's say this.... if you read many of the articles on the subject.. Umpires are approx 94 % accurate in calling balls and strikes. Major league BB is studying, and I think will be implementing a ROBO strike zone in the next few years.... they have the Technology... there does need to be refinement. and implementing that Robo / Auto calling balls and strikes WILL not remove the Home plate ump... He is still needed for Swings at pitches out of the strike zone, Foul tip calls, HBP, Fair/Foul calls on balls in play, Outs at Home plate.... etc,,, but you can see a day when that ROBO Ump talks to the Home-plate umpire in a head set/ear buds in realtime as to call the BALL or STRIKE .... I doubt if the players will be any happier with the ROBO Ump .... as there are pitchers that Live on the Edge, they get a call on the outside corner,,, they go a 1/2 inch farther out,,,Still a Strike ??? they move the ball out another 1/2 inch,,, Guys like Greg Maddux, Jimmy Key, among many many others made a living by doing that. SO I think its a be careful what you ask for ,,,, you just might get it....
WE have replay and use data for many parts of the game,,,,, Replay on bang-bang plays has lead to confirmation or overturning these calls,,,,they calculate , MPH on pitches, Exit Velocity, launch angle off the bat, Homerun distance, etc,,, so don't think robo umpiring is far behind....
Need to read more,,,,
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32434892/mlb-playoffs-2021-how-268th-pitch-became-defining-moment-alcs-game-4
Https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2021/10/20/laz-diaz-red-sox-astros-alcs-game-4-strike-zone-nathan-eovaldi-missed-call/
https://fansided.com/2021/04/22/angel-hernandez-joe-west-umpire-auditor/
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