Nobody has a better view of the strike zone in baseball than Jim, the guy in row 14, section 110 who has been a season ticket holder for the past 15 years. Bob, down in row 2 along the third-base line has been correcting the calls of Major League Baseball umpires since 1995, going way back to the team’s old stadium. Now, as Major League Baseball goes fanless in 2020, how are Major League Baseball umpires going to know if they made the right call or not. Jim, Bob and the other 40,000 fans who have a better perspective of the game than the men in blue on the field will not be there for backup.
Other than the crotchety manager who has been itching for a good ejection since baseball was postponed back in March, umpires are flying solo this season. When they blow a called strike three on a 3-2 count on a pitch that just hit the outer millimeter of home plate, there will be nobody to boo, remind them to wear their glasses or hope they die in a fiery car crash on the way home from the game.
We asked Major League Baseball if they will be piping in “Asshole” chants, but the league has yet to respond to the twenty-seven emails we sent on the subject.