The Hardball Times has an article up which statistically proves what baseball fans have been thinking for over 100 years: umpires suck. According to THT's analysis of balls and strikes called, "the 3-0 zone is nearly 50 percent larger than the 0-2 zone." In THT's article (and below) is a plot of the strike zone data; there you can see the stark difference in overall strikeout zone size between the 3-0 count to the 0-2 count. To the right is THT's chart which plots a batter's runs created against the various count situations and strike zone breadths.Definitely worth checking this article out if you have the time.
there was also a study that showed referees are much more prone to call a foul against the team leading the game to allow the losing team to catch up. In non-baseball sports mainly
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