The History of MLB Visualized

If there is one thing that baseball does better than any other sport, it's history. Professional baseball predates The Football League (1888) in England, the NHL (1917), and the NFL (1920). Beyond professional leagues, the origins of baseball extend back through Alexander Cartwright's publication of the first official baseball rules in 1845 and into colonial times for traditional folk games using a stick, a ball, and running.

For professional leagues, the National League dates to 1876 and the American League to 1901. While other leagues came and went in the early years of professional baseball, including the National Association (1871 - 1875), the American Association (1882 - 1891), the Union Association (1884), the Players League (1890) , and the Federal League (1914 - 1915), only the National League and the American League have endured into the 21st century. The American Association, perhaps, came the closest to succeeding, even playing 7 early versions of the World Series against National League champions. Despite this, 4 franchises jumped to the NL, indicating potential issues with level of play and league organization. 4 more franchises joined the NL from the AA after it folded in 1892. In just 10 seasons, the AA hosted 25 franchises, indicating tremendous instability (even when compared to 19th century NL instability). Four AA franchises survive today: the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cincinnati Reds, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Only the Chicao Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises date to the original 1876 founding of the National League.

While much of baseball history is rightfully devoted to the players and on-the-field achievements, the odyssey of franchises has been a major influence on the course of the game. Over more than a century of professional baseball, the American League and National League have seen contraction, relocation, and expansion. Fifty franchises have played for at least one season in either league. More than a hundred fields, parks, and stadiums have been called home by professional baseball teams from the AL and NL.

The following data visualization shows the history of franchises, stadiums, and cities throughout MLB history. Click through for an interactive version. Mousing over nodes and links will provide a pop-up with extra information including the progression of team nicknames and the years in which a franchise played in a specific stadium.

Some interesting facts:

• 10 franchises have relocated from east to west, 5 franchises have relocated from west to east, 10 franchises have relocated from north to south, and 5 franchises have relocated from south to north. This reflects the heavily northeastern and upper-midwestern focus of early baseball.
• 4 of the 8 original AL franchises have not relocated since 1901 while 1 of the 8 original NL franchises has not relocated, folded, or been expelled since 1876 (5 of 8 since 1901).
• The early years of the National League, from 1876 - 1899 were rather chaotic, with 20 franchises folding, being expelled, or being merged into remaining franchises. Many of the cities that hosted these franchises would eventually catch on as major league cities, but Worcester, Louisville, Troy, Buffalo, Syracuse, Providence, Hartford, and Louisville would not regain major league status, although many now host minor league teams.

Notes:

All logos are the property of MLB and their respective teams. They are used here for identification purposes only.

All franchises and stadiums in grey are defunct. All defunct franchises were members of the National League prior to 1900. The American League has never contracted. The American Association is not included in this visualization, due to the issues outlined above.

Franchises are listed according to their most recent name. Certain combinations of cities and team names have been used multiple times by difference franchises. For example, no less than four different franchises have used the Washington Senators name (one of which was alternately know as the Washington Statesmen and is listed under that moniker).

The visualization is based on Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Use CTRL and either + or - on your keyboard or the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out.

Mouse-over nodes (hover) to pull up info relating the franchise, stadium, city, or related links. Note that values are in seasons, not years. Therefore, a stadium such as Sportsman's Park, which hosted Major League Baseball during 68 years could host 102 home seasons combined for multiple franchises.

The visualization is created using a JavaScript library, called Data Driven Documents (D3), developed by Mike Bostock.

Teams cannot be displayed in alphabetical order or by division, due to the complexity of links resulting from relocations and the working of the algorithm used to place nodes on the visualization. The horizontal layout shows the order in which the franchise played in stadiums, but does not represent a timeline to scale. Most recent homes are to the left and oldest are to the right.

Please email any questions or comments (especially on inaccuracies or errors in the visualization) to lokitez {at} gmail {dot} com or leave a comment.

2013 Strikezone Analysis: The Catchers

The baseball analysis community has recently begun studying (in detail, not just "by eye") the effects that catchers can have on the called strikezone for a game. Jose Molina (Tampa Bay) has been noted for having a repeatable ability to frame pitches and expand the strikezone for his pitchers. When we looked at how Matt Wieters receives pitches via the "eye test" back in May, there appeared to be some issues. Most notably, Wieters has a very "noisy" glove during the windup and he seems to give up on pitches rather than attempt to frame them. Well, now we have the numbers for the four catchers who played for the Orioles in 2013: Matt Wieters, Taylor Teagarden, Chris Snyder, and Steve Clevenger.

Click through the jump for the details.

(Edit: This post has been edited to include a glossary of terms.)

2013 Strikezone Analysis: Teams Summary

As previously discussed, the strikezone was called very consistently over the course of the 2013 season. However, that does not mean that there was not some variation of the strikezone for different teams, acknowledging small sample size caveats for teams outside of the American League East.

Over the course of the season, there is no statistical correlation between call differential, (O's BcS + Opps. ScB) - (O's ScB + Opps. BcS), and run differential. The correlation coefficient is just .0099.

(Note: BcS are balls called strikes and ScB are strikes called balls.)

(Full size view)

On the surface, the "Yankee Strikezone" appears to exist (as well as a "Rays Strikezone"). Each one of the American League East teams will receive a more detailed write-up later. Below are samples of the overall season data for the Orioles against each opponent.

2013 Strikezone Analysis: Season Overview

Thoughts on Analyzing the Strikezone

Expanded instant replay is coming to baseball. The umpires will now be able to use video replay to determine home runs, fair or foul balls, and whether catches are clean or trapped. However, balls and strikes will still be the exclusive purview of the human eye.

There are times when it feels as if the very soul of the game is the right of the fans to question the umpire's judgment of the strikezone, whether it's too lenient, too tight, or just completely inconsistent. Fortunately, PITCH f/x provides a means for answering some simple questions (see a little bit about how this got started here).

• Are the Orioles having more pitches called in their favor or against them over the course of a game, a series, and the season?
• What are the sum effects of incorrectly called pitches on the Orioles?
• Is there a significant difference in called borderline pitches for the Orioles and their opponents?
• Why are any differences in called pitches occurring?
• Which games and umpires had the most correctly called strikezone?

As more data filtered in over the course of the 2013 season, it became apparent that PITCH f/x provides far more than simple ball or strike data. Do certain pitch types result in umpire "confusion"? Are some catchers better at others at turning borderline pitches into strikes? The number of rabbit holes to chase down became quite numerous.

Now that the data is accumulated, some of these questions can start to be answered, not just from a series point of view as earlier in the year, but from a much larger point of view for the 2013 Orioles season. However, it is important to recognize the following caveats.

• While all 162 games for the Orioles are included in this data, 29 other teams are either tangentially included or not included at all. Thus, the sample size for other teams, especially teams outside of the AL East, is extremely small and subject to variation.
• Umpires have bad days and good days, just like any baseball player. The most games the Orioles saw an umpire for in 2013 was 4. As such, the sample size caveat applies again.
• Ideally, PITCH f/x data for the strikezone could be run for every game since its inception in the 2006 playoffs. Certain limitations currently prevent that from being done. However, PITCH f/x data will be run for the 2014 Orioles, which will allow better analysis to be conducted.

Check out some season overview details after the jump.

Strikezone Analysis for June 24 - 26: Indians at Orioles

Series Thoughts

Here's a situation where a series' numbers don't necessarily match what's seen on the field. Overall, it was a cleanly called series with 3/4 games seeing better than 90% correct calls for the Rzone. On the other hand, there were some truly atrocious pitches - either pitches outside of the Tzone called strikes or pitches within the Rzone called balls. I don't think it's reasonable to expect perfection from an umpire, especially on borderline pitches, but on these types of obvious pitches, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the umpire to be close to 100%.

Game details after the jump.

Strikezone Analysis for June 21 - 23: Orioles at Blue Jays

Series Thoughts

This was not an attractively umpired series, at home plate or in general. This was the worst called series since at least May 10 - 12 in Minnesota. Such is the way of baseball, though. The Orioles lost three in a row to the surging Jays, not because of the FBI agents on the field, but because of pitching struggles, offensive struggles, or both.

The one thing almost every manager and player asks for from an umpire is a consistent strikezone. Whether it's a wide zone or tight zone, a consistent zone can be figured out. For this series, the Blue Jays' Rzone was called correctly at rates of 88.24%, 86.36%, and 84.21%. The Orioles' Rzone was called correctly at 83.82%, 83.82%, and 84.51%. The pitching on Sunday was so awful, no strikezone was going to fix it, but one can't help but wonder if the more inconsistently called zones the Orioles had on Friday and Saturday, in close games, had an influence.

PITCHf/x Summary Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w9dFaRvtmdERyaVpYYU1PNWNaWUpkc21yYXNDM2c&usp=drive_web

Game data after the jump, as always.

Strikezone Analysis for June 17 - 19: Orioles at Tigers

Series Thoughts

Hitters during this series could be forgiven for not quite knowing where the strikezone was being located. Mark Wegner righted the ship on Thursday, but for the first two games, correct call rates were well below 90%, pitches outside of even the Tzone were being called strikes, and some absolutely grooved pitches over the plate were called balls. The first two games favored the Tigers on missed calls, while the third favored the Orioles significantly. The final Rzone tally was 28 calls in favor of the Orioles and 26 calls in favor of the Tigers.

On the bright side, the Orioles ran The Cavalry out and they won 2 out of 3 against the AL Central leading Tigers. On the down side, the starters only put up 15 IP and gave up 9 ER, 22 H, and 7 BB.

The Cavalry rides... again?

PITCHf/x Summary Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w9dFaRvtmdERyaVpYYU1PNWNaWUpkc21yYXNDM2c#gid=0

Game data after the jump.

Strikezone Analysis for June 13 - 16: Red Sox at Orioles

Series Thoughts

Season Summary: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w9dFaRvtmdERyaVpYYU1PNWNaWUpkc21yYXNDM2c#gid=0

I wasn't thrilled with the strikezones this weekend, although the most egregious umpiring mistakes were not involving called pitches. Not a single game broke a 90% correct call rate for the Rzone and that's the first series for which that can be said since the trip to Minnesota in a month ago. I didn't think they were horrendously favoring one team or the other, with the Orioles actually having a slight edge with 39 calls in their favor to Boston's 34 for the Rzone, but the inconsistency was frustrating. The Red Sox fared better with the Tzone with 55 calls in Boston's favor and 42 for Baltimore.

On another continuing topic, Taylor Teagarden caught Saturday's game. His ball-called-strike rate for the Rzone was 22.00%, well above the umpire's average for the game. For the other three games, Matt Wieters had rates of 7.81%, 10.71%, and 4.44%, all below the umpire's average for each respective game. Teagarden's borderline strike rate was 68.42% compared to 56.76% for the game. Wieters' borderline strike rates were 46.67%, 46.15%, and 34.78% with the umpire calling 41.94%, 55.56%, and 34.29%, respectively.

Game breakdowns are after the jump.

Strikezone Analysis for May 20 - 22: Yankees at Orioles

Series Thoughts

Coming into this series, I was curious to see how the strikezone would play out. The "Yankee Strikezone" is part of why I began this project. In the first series between these teams this year, the strikezones were wildly inconsistent, ranging from under 80% correct to over 90% correct for the Rzone. The Orioles had received 24 calls in favor to the Yankees' 31. This series saw 13 Rzone calls in favor of the Orioles to 20 for the Yankees, bringing the totals to 37 and 51, respectively.

On borderline pitches, the first series between the teams saw the Orioles with 19 called balls and 19 called strikes. The Yankees had 22 called balls and 36 called strikes. This series saw 25 strikes to 26 balls for the Orioles and 30 strikes to 25 balls for the Yankees.

On the season, the Orioles borderline strike rate is 49.06% and their opponents are at 49.35%. Versus the Yankees, the Orioles have a 49.44% rate and the Yankees have a 58.41% rate. Matt Wieters has caught all 6 games against the Yankees, while the Yankees have used Cervelli (2.5), Stewart (0.5), and Romine (3). This is not enough data to draw a firm conclusion from, but it does raise an eyebrow.

Click through the jump for the game-by-game numbers.

Strikezone Analysis for May 17 - 19: Rays at Orioles

Series Thoughts


What an extraordinarily frustrating series. The called strikezone greatly benefited the Orioles in one game, benefited the Rays in another, and was neutral in another, which shouldn't be masked by the overall high correct call rates (first series this season with all three games over 90% correct). The Orioles even came out ahead on calls in favor to calls against, 22 to 19, but this series demonstrates that not all incorrect calls are created equal. There is a significant difference between random pitches called incorrectly here and there compared to a massive shifting of the strikezone in one direction or another.

Click through the jump for the game-by-game breakdown.

Strikezone Analysis for May 14 - 15: Padres at Orioles

Series Thoughts

In continuation of the trend I noticed this weekend, Wieters continues to have "noisy" glovework. He is inconsistent in presenting a clear target to his pitcher (the easily visible brown interior of his glove, as opposed to the black exterior, which blends with his chestguard); often this includes rapidly twisting his wrist, flipping his glove between open and closed, front and back presented to the pitcher. He also presents the backside of his glove in a different location than he seems to want the pitch. Finally, he has quite a bit of glove movement upon receiving the pitch. I know that this was something that the team worked on with him when he was first drafted and called up. Perhaps he could use a refresher course.

Click through the jump for the game-by-game.

Strikezone Analysis by Pitcher: Volume I

The off day gave me some extra time to go through and take a look at how each pitcher is fairing with the called strikezone, both Real and Typical, as well as borderline pitchers.

These numbers are likely to change as the season progresses. Hammel, Chen, Gonzalez, and Tillman have each seen multiple umpires, so their numbers are somewhat more reliable, although 35 - 50 IP is still a small sample size. Johnson (Jim), O'Day, Patton, Matusz, Strop, Hunter, and McFarland have enough appearances out of the bullpen to have seen quite a few umpires, but with less than 20 IP each, just a few pitches can skew their numbers significantly.

That being said, there are some interesting trends emerging. Wei-yin Chen and Jim Johnson have the most accurately called pitches, while TJ McFarland and Tommy Hunter have some of the least accurate called pitches. But there's more to this than simple accuracy. Chen and Johnson pay for their accurate zones, as their ability to get balls called strikes is much lower than other pitchers. On the other hand, TJ McFarland and Darren O'Day must be dazzling the umpires, because they are earning called strikes on pitches outside of the zone at a much higher rate.

Click through the jump for a more in-depth breakdown.

Strikezone Analysis for May 10 - 12: Orioles at Twins

Series Thoughts

Overall, a poor series for the umpires. The strikezones looked an awful lot like the strikezones of the late-'90s and early-'00s, very elongated across the plate and inconsistent on the top. The Orioles worked the Tzone-Rzone area very well, posting strike rates of 85.71%, 50.00%, and 100.00% (first "perfect" Tzone-Rzone game this season). By comparison, the Twins sat at 54.71%, 61.54%, and 44.44%. The Orioles were also consistently better on borderline strikes. This mimics the results of the first series, with the Orioles significantly better at getting close pitches called strikes than the Twins in wins and only slightly worse (if at all) in losses. Small sample size conclusion? Ryan Doumit and Joe Mauer aren't very good at receiving pitches and presenting them to the umpire.

On to the game-by-game strikezone analysis, as well as a discussion (with game images) of the difference between how Snyder and Wieters present a target to the pitcher.

Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w9dFaRvtmdENTeWZnczVZUERyc25Gd1NNOE0xV3c#gid=0

Strikezone Analysis for May 07 - 09: Royals at Orioles

Series Thoughts

After the difficult night Wieters had behind the plate in the opening game of the series, it was nice to see much more favorable called borderline strike rates in the second and third games. In the 8 games played in May so far, the Orioles have fallen below 50% T-R strikes just once and borderline strikes twice. That's a much better trend than what we saw earlier in the season.

Overall, the Orioles staff may be benefiting from a general decline in strikes called balls and borderline pitches called balls. While the correlation may not be as strong as with overall batters faced or the final score, there does appear to be some correlation (not statistical, but "eyeball test") with the number of pitches thrown by the Orioles and higher borderline called strike rates. This may be something to keep an eye on as the season progresses and bullpen fatigue potentially becomes a factor.

Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w9dFaRvtmdENTeWZnczVZUERyc25Gd1NNOE0xV3c#gid=0

Strikezone Analysis for May 02 - 05: Orioles at Angels

Summary Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w9dFaRvtmdENTeWZnczVZUERyc25Gd1NNOE0xV3c#gid=0

May 05, 2013: Baltimore Orioles - 8, Los Angeles Angels - 4

Umpire	Real	% of Total	% of Chances	Typical	% of Total	% of Chances
Correct Calls	163	92.09%		151	85.31%
Incorrect Calls	14	7.91%		26	14.69%
Balls Called Balls	126	71.19%	94.03%	108	61.02%	98.18%
Strikes Called Strikes	37	20.90%	86.05%	43	24.29%	64.18%
Strikes Called Balls	6	3.39%	13.95%	24	13.56%	35.82%
Balls Called Strikes	8	4.52%	5.97%	2	1.13%	1.82%
Borderline - Balls	26	14.69%	63.41%
Borderline - Strikes	15	8.47%	36.59%

Strikezone Analysis for April 29 - May 01: Orioles at Mariners

May 01, 2013: Baltimore Orioles - 3, Seattle Mariners - 8

Umpire	Real	% of Total	% of Chances	Typical	% of Total	% of Chances
Correct Calls	157	86.26%		163	89.56%
Incorrect Calls	25	13.74%		19	10.44%
Balls Called Balls	108	59.34%	85.04%	96	52.75%	98.97%
Strikes Called Strikes	49	26.92%	89.09%	67	36.81%	78.82%
Strikes Called Balls	6	3.30%	10.91%	18	9.89%	21.18%
Balls Called Strikes	19	10.44%	14.96%	1	0.55%	1.03%
Borderline - Balls	17	9.34%	40.48%
Borderline - Strikes	25	13.74%	59.52%

Strikezone Analysis for April 25 - 28: Orioles at Athletics

April 28, 2013: Orioles - 8, Athletics - 9

Umpire	Real	% of Total	% of Chances	Typical	% of Total	% of Chances
Correct Calls	133	85.81%		132	85.16%
Incorrect Calls	22	14.19%		23	14.84%
Balls Called Balls	92	59.35%	86.79%	77	49.68%	100.00%
Strikes Called Strikes	41	26.45%	83.67%	55	35.48%	70.51%
Strikes Called Balls	8	5.16%	16.33%	23	14.84%	29.49%
Balls Called Strikes	14	9.03%	13.21%	0	0.00%	0.00%
Borderline - Balls	19	12.26%	43.18%
Borderline - Strikes	25	16.13%	56.82%

Strikezone Analysis for April 22 - 24: Blue Jays at Orioles

The Toronto at Baltimore series saw some of the more consistently called strikezones on the season, with every game rating above average for Rzone accuracy. The average Rzone accuracy rate coming into this series stood at 86.80%, but for the series, hit a robust 88.56%.

Overall, the Orioles benefited on 35 "bad" calls, while the Blue Jays benefited on 23. This was the most favorably called series the O's have seen so far this year. That being said, the Orioles are still at a net loss on the season and based upon the current trend for away games, this upcoming west coast trip may not rectify that. This is probably also attributable to a few things: 1. Jake Arrieta didn't pitch this series, 2. Chris Tillman had his best start of the season. 3. As bad as Josh Stinson was, his issue was home runs, not poor control.

April 22, 2013: Toronto 1 - Baltimore 2

Umpire	Real	% of Total	% of Chances	Typical	% of Total	% of Chances
Correct Calls	148	87.57%		148	87.57%
Incorrect Calls	21	12.43%		21	12.43%
Balls Called Balls	106	62.72%	86.89%	92	54.44%	97.87%
Strikes Called Strikes	42	24.85%	89.36%	56	33.14%	74.67%
Strikes Called Balls	5	2.96%	10.64%	19	11.24%	25.33%
Balls Called Strikes	16	9.47%	13.11%	2	1.18%	2.13%
Borderline - Balls	19	11.24%	42.22%
Borderline - Strikes	26	15.38%	57.78%
Baltimore Orioles	Real	% of Team	% of Chances	Typical	% of Team	% of Chances
Ball Called Ball	52	57.78%	83.87%	43	47.78%	100.00%
Strike Called Strike	25	27.78%	89.29%	35	38.89%	74.47%
Strike Called Ball	3	3.33%	10.71%	12	13.33%	25.53%
Ball Called Strike	10	11.11%	16.13%	0	0.00%	0.00%
Borderline Pitches	45	31.03%
Borderline - Balls	11	42.31%
Borderline - Strikes	15	57.69%
Calls in Favor	12		7.10%	7		4.14%
Calls Against	9		5.33%	14		8.28%
Toronto Blue Jays	Real	% of Team	% of Chances	Typical	% of Team	% of Chances
Ball Called Ball	54	68.35%	90.00%	49	62.03%	96.08%
Strike Called Strike	17	21.52%	89.47%	21	26.58%	75.00%
Strike Called Ball	2	2.53%	10.53%	7	8.86%	25.00%
Ball Called Strike	6	7.59%	10.00%	2	2.53%	3.92%
Borderline Pitches	44	29.41%
Borderline - Balls	8	42.11%
Borderline - Strikes	11	57.89%
Calls in Favor	9		5.33%	14		8.28%
Calls Against	12		7.10%	7		4.14%

Barrett called a fairly consistent Rzone on the evening. His overall Strike called Ball rate was 10.64%, well below the season average of 16.87%. His Ball called Strike rate, 13.11%, was slightly higher than the season average of 11.23%.

As far as the Tzone was concerned, Barrett was more accurate than average, 87.57% to 85.80%. Balls were called balls at a 97.87% rate, indicating that while he was expanding beyond the Rzone, he wasn’t being completely irrational about it. It’s just that within the Tzone, but outside of the Rzone, he was wildly inconsistent, calling 76.92% of such pitches strikes for the Orioles, but just 44.44% for the Blue Jays. On borderline pitches, his strike rate was virtually identical for both teams, at 57.69% for the O’s and 57.89% for the Jays.

In Monday night's game, a classic Tzone pattern emerged. When you look at the chart, you can see what happened clearly.

The Orioles pitchers hammered LHB and the Blue Jays pitchers hammered RHB. On a night when the O’s trotted out 5 RHB(+ 2SHB) and the Jays trotted out 3 LHB(+2 SHB), the overall count should’ve favored the Jays. But when it came down to it, the O’s really pounded that outside corner (when they missed to a LHB, they missed low or away), while the Jays had far less control (when they missed to a RHB, the ball could be anywhere). Toronto also missed more pitches inside and high to a LHB, while the O’s were more consistently (but not perfectly) low and away to a RHB.

For the fifth time this season, the Orioles had a significant borderline pitch advantage. While borderline Rzone pitches were called at even rates for both teams at just under 58%, the Orioles had a very significant advantage in the percentage of T-R strikes (pitches in the Tzone, but outside the Rzone) at 76.92% to 44.44%.

April 23, 2013: Toronto 3 - Baltimore 4

Umpire	Real	% of Total	% of Chances	Typical	% of Total	% of Chances
Correct Calls	129	87.16%		117	79.05%
Incorrect Calls	19	12.84%		31	20.95%
Balls Called Balls	100	67.57%	93.46%	81	54.73%	100.00%
Strikes Called Strikes	29	19.59%	70.73%	36	24.32%	53.73%
Strikes Called Balls	12	8.11%	29.27%	31	20.95%	46.27%
Balls Called Strikes	7	4.73%	6.54%	0	0.00%	0.00%
Borderline - Balls	30	20.27%	71.43%
Borderline - Strikes	12	8.11%	28.57%
Baltimore Orioles	Real	% of Team	% of Chances	Typical	% of Team	% of Chances
Ball Called Ball	50	67.57%	90.91%	38	51.35%	100.00%
Strike Called Strike	17	22.97%	89.47%	22	29.73%	61.11%
Strike Called Ball	2	2.70%	10.53%	14	18.92%	38.89%
Ball Called Strike	5	6.76%	9.09%	0	0.00%	0.00%
Borderline Pitches	45	32.37%
Borderline - Balls	15	68.18%
Borderline - Strikes	7	31.82%
Calls in Favor	15		10.14%	17		11.49%
Calls Against	4		2.70%	14		9.46%
Toronto Blue Jays	Real	% of Team	% of Chances	Typical	% of Team	% of Chances
Ball Called Ball	50	67.57%	96.15%	43	58.11%	100.00%
Strike Called Strike	12	16.22%	54.55%	14	18.92%	45.16%
Strike Called Ball	10	13.51%	45.45%	17	22.97%	54.84%
Ball Called Strike	2	2.70%	3.85%	0	0.00%	0.00%
Borderline Pitches	41	32.85%
Borderline - Balls	15	75.00%
Borderline - Strikes	5	25.00%
Calls in Favor	4		2.70%	14		9.46%
Calls Against	15		10.14%	17		11.49%

In a complete vacuum, I would feel guilty about the strikezone last night. I don’t have a frame of reference, but it really, really looks like the umpire had no idea what to do with Dickey’s knuckleball. For the Rzone, the Orioles had 9.09% (5) of balls called strikes and 10.53% (2) of strikes called balls. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, had just 3.85% (2) of balls called strikes and a whopping 45.45% (10) of strikes called balls. That 15 calls in favor (10.14% of all pitches) and 4 against (2.70%) for the Orioles was the third highest calls in favor rate, lowest calls against rate, and largest difference between call in favor and calls against (for any team) so far this season. The knuckle ball does strange things...

The Tzone was much, much more even. Neither team had a ball called a strike and the Orioles only had a slight 14 – 17 advantage (lower is better) in strikes called balls. The 79.05% Tzone correct rate was the second lowest of the year. The knuckleball does strange things...

On borderline pitches, Alfonso Marquez had the lowest called strike rate so far this season, at 28.57%. The Orioles got 31.82% strikes on borderline pitches to the Blue Jays’ 25.00%. The difference on T-R strikes was very significant, with the Orioles getting a 71.43% rate to the Blue Jays’ 22.22%. The knuckleball does strange things...

April 24, 2013: Toronto 6 - Baltimore 5

Umpire	Real	% of Total	% of Chances	Typical	% of Total	% of Chances
Correct Calls	172	90.53%		174	91.58%
Incorrect Calls	18	9.47%		16	8.42%
Balls Called Balls	121	63.68%	90.30%	112	58.95%	98.25%
Strikes Called Strikes	51	26.84%	91.07%	62	32.63%	81.58%
Strikes Called Balls	5	2.63%	8.93%	14	7.37%	18.42%
Balls Called Strikes	13	6.84%	9.70%	2	1.05%	1.75%
Borderline - Balls	14	7.37%	40.00%
Borderline - Strikes	21	11.05%	60.00%
Baltimore Orioles	Real	% of Team	% of Chances	Typical	% of Team	% of Chances
Ball Called Ball	52	57.14%	88.14%	45	49.45%	95.74%
Strike Called Strike	28	30.77%	87.50%	33	36.26%	75.00%
Strike Called Ball	4	4.40%	12.50%	11	12.09%	25.00%
Ball Called Strike	7	7.69%	11.86%	2	2.20%	4.26%
Borderline Pitches	38	23.17%
Borderline - Balls	5	35.71%
Borderline - Strikes	9	64.29%
Calls in Favor	8		4.21%	5		2.63%
Calls Against	10		5.26%	11		5.79%
Toronto Blue Jays	Real	% of Team	% of Chances	Typical	% of Team	% of Chances
Ball Called Ball	69	69.70%	92.00%	67	67.68%	100.00%
Strike Called Strike	23	23.23%	95.83%	29	29.29%	90.63%
Strike Called Ball	1	1.01%	4.17%	3	3.03%	9.38%
Ball Called Strike	6	6.06%	8.00%	0	0.00%	0.00%
Borderline Pitches	52	21.59%
Borderline - Balls	9	42.86%
Borderline - Strikes	12	57.14%
Calls in Favor	10		5.26%	11		5.79%
Calls Against	8		4.21%	5		2.63%

Overall, this was a very cleanly called game. Not only was it the second highest call accuracy rate on the season, but neither team was adversely affected by the few bad calls that did happen. The game ended rather poorly for the Orioles, but on the whole, it was their own pitching failures and not the strikezone.