strike zone is and when it becomes the strike zone. Also, MLB should
determine if baseball’s fans really want machines to call balls and strikes.
Most importantly, MLB needs to look deep inside its soul and address
the larger cultural question: Should the calling of balls and strikes be
more a science than an art?
// Ball Park Factor
Before, we discussed dimensions of the baseball field, each stadium is
unique and has its own pros and cons for how it serves the team. These
differences impact the result of batted balls. A same batted ball that
would be a fly ball in a certain stadium will become a homer in other
ballparks. The Yankees Stadium has the short porch in right field, which
makes it a good park for left-handed power bats. On the other hand,
there are parks like Oracle Park out in San Francisco, which plays very
well for pitchers. Eventually ballparks are considered either
pitcher-friendly or hitter-friendly. Each team plays 81 games in their
home stadium every season. Pitchers playing on hitter-friendly home
stadiums are likely to get worse results on their games. Likewise, batters
using the same ballpark will get somewhat exaggerated stats. BPF
(Ballpark Factor) value is created to minimize this aspect.
Park factor is a great way of determining the extent to which a stadium
favors hitters or pitchers. It is also helpful in assessing how much a
specific ballpark contributes to the offensive production of a team or
player. It isn't affected by the teams or players involved, because those
teams and players are also playing games in other stadiums. It simply
compares how easy it is to score, from one ballpark to another.