Major League Baseball is making a key change to umpiring this season, which will allow batters and pitchers to be able to challenge balls and strikes. It’s a technology-aided innovation many have been clamoring for. Unfortunately, it now looks like it’s going to be accompanied by a change that will actively make watching the game on television slightly worse.
Starting next season, broadcasters will no longer be allowed to indicate whether a pitch was technically a ball or strike within the strike zone box. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, they’ll still show where the pitch was relative to the strike zone box, but there won’t be any difference in how it’s displayed to indicate whether it should have been called a ball or strike. In addition, all displays within the stadium, such as on the Jumbotron or inside the dugouts, won’t show the strike zone box at all.
