Effectively Wild Episode 1923: The Umpire Perfect Game

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about umpire Pat Hoberg’s unprecedented “perfect game” behind the plate in Game 2 of the World Series, followed by musings on Nolan Arenado opting not to opt out of his contract, the Royals hiring Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro as their new manager, and Rob Manfred’s latest update on the zombie runner, then break down Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, reflect on the folly of predicting sweeps and seven-game series, and provide a Past Blast from 1923. Then (1:17:54) they bring on Umpire Scorecards creator Ethan Singer to explain how he realized an umpire perfect game had occurred, how Hoberg’s umpire perfecto was calculated, Hoberg’s track record, the squishy nature of ump perfection, the concepts of accuracy, expected accuracy, and consistency, the odds of a perfect game occurring, Umpire Scorecards in the robot-umps era, umpiring accuracy and difficulty in the postseason, the rest of the umps in the World Series, and more. Audio intro : John Cale, “ Perfect ” Audio interstitial : Ronnie Wood, “ 100% ” Audio outro : Kiwi Jr., “ Highlights of 100 ” Link to Ben on umpire perfect games Link to Hoberg article Link to Hoberg’s Twitter scorecard Link to Hoberg’s website scorecard Link to Hoberg game video Link to Bob Wolff Larsen call Link to Vin Scully Larsen call Link to MLBTR on Arenado Link to Jay Jaffe on Arenado Link to MLBTR on Quatraro Link to MLBTR on the White Sox search Link to Shakeia Taylor EW episode Link to study on manager demographics Link to Shakeia on manager demographics Link to Rob on manager demographics Link to James Wagner managers thread Link to zombie runner comments Link to 2020 zombie runner survey Link to The Athletic zombie runner survey Link to FG zombie runner survey Link to ZiPS postseason odds Link to FG WS Game 1 story Link to FG WS Game 2 story Link to Jaffe on Verlander in the WS Link to Posnanski on on Verlander in G1 Link to post on Díaz’s non-HBP Link to FG post on starters in relief Link to Valdez suspicion story Link to Maldonado/Pujols bats Link to Silver Slugger finalists Link to Ben on predicting sweeps Link to Joe’s newsletter Link to MLB.com WS predictions Link to ESPN WS predictions Link to The Athletic WS predictions Link to CBS Sports WS predictions Link to 1923 story source Link to SABR on radio broadcasts Link to article on televised World Series Link to Jacob Pomrenke’s website Link to Jacob Pomrenke on Twitter Link to Ethan’s first EW interview Link to Umpire Scorecards leaderboard Link to World Series umpire lineup Link to MLB’s no-hitter redefinition Link to support Umpire scorecards Link to Ethan’s personal website Link to Ben in 2014 on postseason umps Link to Ben on MLB ump evaluations Link to 2015 article on ump improvement Link to 2016 article on ump improvement Link to study on umpire age Link to umps and high leverage study Link to EW on umpire decision fatigue Link to Baumann on rainout implications Link to NYT umpire interactive Sponsor Us on Patreon Subscribe to Stathead (Code: WILD20) Facebook Group Twitter Account EW Subreddit Effectively Wild Wiki iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!) Get Our Merch! Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source