So, don’t get me wrong. I’d prefer “full ABS” from the get-go, or, failing that, way more (unsuccessful) challenges than just two. But, failing all of that, here’s another thought.
Up until this season, the strike zone box overlaid on the screen during baseball broadcasts was pretty awful. You could follow along on Gameday or Baseball Savant and see that the box was just generally in the vicinity of the zone, but not really all that accurate. This season, though, it looks like broadcasts are finally
synced up with the Hawkeye/Statcast cameras that inform ABS.
As a result, any semblance of drama or “play along at home”-ness with regard to ABS challenges is gone. When a player challenges, the viewer at home already knows whether they’ve won or lost, before the ruling is made on the field. Or, at least, that’s been my experience. I’m curious if you all have seen any games where the on-screen strike zone box conflicted with the ultimate ABS call once challenged, but I don’t think I have.
Given that, do you still want the box? Do you like the knowledge in real time? Or do you want the added sprinkling of drama? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter from a knowledge perspective since you can easily have Gameday or the Savant gamefeed up in tandem with the game itself, it’s just an in-the-moment thing.
