Terrence O’Brien, writing at The Verge, on veteran MLB Umpire C.B. Bucknor’s brutal early-season mishaps:

During Saturday’s game between the Red Sox and the Reds, Eugenio Suárez challenged Bucknor on back-to-back strike three calls and successfully had them overturned by the robo ump.

This is the first year Major League Baseball is using the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System (ABS), and it’s already successful at two things: allowing egregious calls to be corrected, and exposing the strike zone inconsistencies among umpires. No doubt many umpires will be frustrated (and embarrassed) seeing their calls overturned—especially close ones that are mere tenths of inches off the strike zone. Good umpires will adapt. Bad umpires will hasten their retirement. I’ll wager Bucknor will be gone by the All-Star Break.