Around Baseball 2025

[Brownie19]

17 hours ago, Stangstag said:

We could also consider the fact that she wasn’t super deserving of the job and skipped over several others because she’s a woman. Not saying that’s the case, but its definitely a question people will ask if she continues to be this bad.

God knows some men are going to get their panties in a bunch and bitch about this either way.  I wonder, are AAA umpires scores available to the public?  I don't have any idea how they determine who gets the next shot.  Perhaps if the results are all similar than seniority comes into play as well (Jen is 49 - but no idea how long she's been in the system)?  I have no idea.  Personally, I think it's good to have female umpires - doesn't bother me at all and if they give her a shot ahead of a couple of guys to gain some notoriety for females  Obviously you can't do that consistently, but to allow her to be the first female umpire in the 150 years of the league on a little trial run (non-permanent role) - I'm cool with that.  

The flip side of this is that if she came up and was consistently in the top third of the league in accuracy, then it would be evidence she'd been held back (perhaps due being a female).  That's probably a much worse look for MLB.  

 

[max silver]

17 hours ago, Stangstag said:

We could also consider the fact that she wasn’t super deserving of the job and skipped over several others because she’s a woman. Not saying that’s the case, but its definitely a question people will ask if she continues to be this bad.

I looked this up using Chatgpt and Pawol spent 9-10 years in the minors before receiving her first shot to call a game in MLB. It really doesn't appear as though she was fast tracked or undeserving of her shot as she had paid her dues beforehand. 

[Grant77]

1 hour ago, Brownie19 said:

God know that some men are going to get their panties in a bunch and bitch about this either way.  I wonder, are AAA umpires scores available to the public?  I don't have any idea how they determine who gets the next shot.  Perhaps if the results are all similar than seniority comes into play as well (Jen is 49 - but no idea how long she's been in the system)?  I have no idea.  Personally, I think it's good to have female umpires - doesn't bother me at all and if they give her a shot ahead of a couple of guys to gain some notoriety for females  Obviously you can't do that consistently, but to allow her to be the first female umpire in the 150 years of the league on a little trial run (non-permanent role) - I'm cool with that.  

The flip side of this is that if she came up and was consistently in the top third of the league in accuracy, then it would be evidence she'd been held back (perhaps due being a female).  That's probably a much worse look for MLB.  

 

Pat Hoberg just got fired for having a sports betting account, so we may be seeing more of Pawol.

[Stangstag]

16 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Pat Hoberg just got fired for having a sports betting account, so we may be seeing more of Pawol.

Thats fine, she just needs to be better. Or maybe not, since the strike challenge is probably coming next year.

[Terminator]

1 hour ago, max silver said:

I looked this up using Chatgpt and Pawol spent 9-10 years in the minors before receiving her first shot to call a game in MLB. It really doesn't appear as though she was fast tracked or undeserving of her shot as she had paid her dues beforehand. 

Well the fact that she's been utter trash isn't helping the narrative that she was deserving of her shot lol

[Terminator]

How long do ump numbers take to stabilize?

Doesn't take long for pitch framing to stabilize and I bet ump grading is similar.

Both are high volume events so you are obtaining data at a very high rate. Also, both are controlled events that don't rely on batted ball luck or anything like that.

So yeah, I'm pretty sure that she sucks. It's time to pull the plug.

[max silver]

11 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Well the fact that she's been utter trash isn't helping the narrative that she was deserving of her shot lol

The first 2 games behind the plate were within a percentage point or so of the expected accuracy which is pretty decent for a replacement umpire. Her last game is certainly ugly though and if she wants to stick around she'll need to improve.

[Terminator]

2 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

The flip side of this is that if she came up and was consistently in the top third of the league in accuracy, then it would be evidence she'd been held back (perhaps due being a female).  That's probably a much worse look for MLB.  

Yes, thank heavens we dodged that nightmare scenario.

Instead, the only issue is that her umpiring is actively swinging games for teams by as much as 2.5 runs. That's far more preferable.

[BatFlip]

1 minute ago, Terminator said:

Yes, thank heavens we dodged that nightmare scenario.

Instead, the only issue is that her umpiring is actively swinging games for teams by as much as 2.5 runs. That's far more preferable.

She has an unreal WAR

[Laika]

She's 49. 

I dunno what the aging curve is for umpires but it's not like her eyes and reaction times are going to get better at 50+ 

All downhill from here. 

Hopefully she develops a huge edge and just becomes a sideshow, for entertainment reasons.

When the challenge system comes into play the umps will matter less anyway. The system will erase all of the big mistakes. 

[Brownie19]

31 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Yes, thank heavens we dodged that nightmare scenario.

Instead, the only issue is that her umpiring is actively swinging games for teams by as much as 2.5 runs. That's far more preferable.

It was an Angels/Twins game - nobody f*cking cares except degenerate gamblers.

[Terminator]

18 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

It was an Angels/Twins game - nobody f*cking cares except degenerate gamblers.

If during a low pressure game she puts up one of the worst ump performances in history imagine how she'll do when the stakes are high! End this travesty!

[Brownie19]

22 minutes ago, Terminator said:

If during a low pressure game she puts up one of the worst ump performances in history imagine how she'll do when the stakes are high! End this travesty!

I'm sure everyone in attendance was happy to see that game end quicker.

Her first 2 games were right in line with the averages from some of baseballs favourite umpires:  Laz Diaz, CB Bucknor and Hunter Wendelstedt.  She'll probably rebound and settle in as a punching bag for the army of misogynistic baseball fans.

Good news for her is that MLB has made it very clear for decades that being accurate is not a requirement for a ML umpire and there's little to no consequences of being terrible.

[Stangstag]

56 minutes ago, Laika said:

She's 49. 

I dunno what the aging curve is for umpires but it's not like her eyes and reaction times are going to get better at 50+ 

All downhill from here. 

Hopefully she develops a huge edge and just becomes a sideshow, for entertainment reasons.

When the challenge system comes into play the umps will matter less anyway. The system will erase all of the big mistakes. 

Wait til we find out the challenge system is inherently sexist

[L54]

6 hours ago, Terminator said:

Yes, thank heavens we dodged that nightmare scenario.

Instead, the only issue is that her umpiring is actively swinging games for teams by as much as 2.5 runs. That's far more preferable.

Ya but aren’t you an ally of women and think it’s great to see the standard lowered so little girls in Michigan can see that anything is possible? You have to factor that in as well 

it’s not just the 2.5 run swing in a professional game it’s also the social impact as well 

[BTS]

Juan Soto has 32 steals 

[L54]

1 minute ago, BTS said:

Juan Soto has 32 steals 

Crazy stat 

maybe more steals than bombs? 

[hanton]

1st to 3rd when the ball is hit to Judge - almost automatic.

[L54]

9 minutes ago, L54 said:

Crazy stat 

maybe more steals than bombs? 

Not quite 

39 hrs and 32 sbs

[hanton]

Judge is teeing off on the bullpen day pitchers....

[G-Snarls]

Dammit Tigers fail to score

Judge HR 

4-1

[thatoneguy]

Tigers serving up meatballs.

[BTS]

56 minutes ago, L54 said:

Crazy stat 

maybe more steals than bombs? 

The fact that Soto has 32 on 15th percentile sprint speed and Naylor has 25 on 2nd percentile sprint speed is crazy. I don't recall seeing two weirder baserunning seasons. 

[Masterbather]

19 minutes ago, thatoneguy said:

Tigers serving up meatballs.

I think they gave Skubal an extra day. f***.

[Stangstag]

Damn, looking like a Yankees win tonight. Guess we’ll have to settle for being best team in the AL

[hanton]

Verlander pithing like he's 20, truly amazing, 105Pm 7 innings, 1ER

2 runners gunned down in extras, Pages with a rope to get McCray at home and then Rortvedt is gunned down trying to advance to 3rd

Bailey with the walk-off grand slam off Scott to win it for the Giants in the 12th.  Poor Tanner Scott

[jaysthebest]

11 minutes ago, hanton said:

Verlander pithing like he's 20, truly amazing, 105Pm 7 innings, 1ER

2 runners gunned down in extras, Pages with a rope to get McCray at home and then Rortvedt is gunned down trying to advance to 3rd

Bailey with the walk-off grand slam off Scott to win it for the Giants in the 12th.  Poor Tanner Scott

Scott is the Dodgers version of Hoffman.

[John_Havok]

On 9/10/2025 at 3:35 PM, Stangstag said:

We could also consider the fact that she wasn’t super deserving of the job and skipped over several others because she’s a woman. Not saying that’s the case, but its definitely a question people will ask if she continues to be this bad.

If you're not saying its the case why would you say "consider the FACT that she wasn't super deserving...."

That is not a fact, it's a possibility that you would then be required to show numbers to backup your supposition. 

Words are kinda important. 

 

Fact: I have no idea if she was the most deserving or not.

Fact: neither do you or anyone else on this board. 

Fact: even questioning if she is qualified because she's a woman is the definition of sexist. 

Fact: the worst umpire in todays game regarding accuracy in calling balls and strikes (larger sample than 3 games needed of course) is more accurate than virtually every umpire calling balls and strikes in 2015. 

[GoBlue41]

Tigers lose again!! Walked off in extras by the Marlins!! 

[Omar]

It's September and Aroldis Chapman is becoming hittable right on que.