TBS Strike Zone has fans and players scratching their heads

Every year there is a new bit of technology that television broadcasts implement in hopes of enhancing the viewing experience. However, fans watching postseason baseball on TBS has some fans a bit confused.

Since the start of the postseason, TBS has featured a pitch tracker on their screen with a virtual strike zone. In theory, it allows viewers to see where each pitch is and whether the umpire made the correct call. In practice, well, it’s been interesting.

The strike zone has been consistently smaller than the zone being called by the umpire, regardless of who is calling balls and strikes.

From the Wild Card game through the first two NLCS games, the zone has confused and frustrated not only baseball fans, but also current and former players.

While the TBS zone shows the umpire calling an unusually large zone, the opposite is the truth in reality. According to FanGraphs, the umpires have, if anything, called a tighter zone than they should.

Game 1 strike zone

Game 2 strike zone

As FanGraphs notes in a separate article, the issue comes down to reality vs. the rule book. The TBS strike zone may, and likely is, correct according to the MLB rule book. However, after a full season of games, that’s not what umpires are calling.

A change, at this point, seems unlikely. So fans will just have to ignore the skewed zone.