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Umpire John Tumpane came oh so close to making history behind the plate during Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays, calling an amazing 134 out of 135 pitches correctly.
Initially, the folks who track this sort of thing, Close Call Sports, had Tumpane at 100%, a perfect 135 for 135.
However, the post-game processed final numbers brought Tumpane’s plate score down from 135/135 to 134/135 or 99.3%. Still pretty dang good.
So much for Josh Donaldson’s complaints after the game…
Top 3 worst ump in the game.
— Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) October 12, 2020
Trust me this guy has no idea what the zone is in the rule book. He’s never wrong in his words.
— Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) October 12, 2020
In case you are wondering, who is Close Call Sports?
Close Call Sports objectively tracks and analyzes close and controversial calls in sport, with great regard for the rules and spirit of the game. Developed from The Left Field Corner’s MLB Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (UEFL), baseball’s number one source for umpire ejections, video instant replay reviews and their corresponding calls, with great regard for the rules and spirit of the game.
According to them, Tumpane fell just a hair short of setting an all-time record for an umpire correctly calling balls and strikes in a game.
• Jordan Baker scored 99.4% in Game 1 of the 2020 Yankees-Indians AL Wild Card Series.
• Joe West scored 99.4% in a near-perfect Game 3 of the 2018 Red Sox-Astros ALCS.
• James Hoye scored 99.3% during Game 4 of the 2019 Houston-Tampa Bay ALDS.
Preliminary UEFL/Statcast/Pitch f/x numbers for #ALCS (#Astros vs #Rays) Game 2 HP Umpire John Tumpane: 90/90 Balls + 45/45 Strikes = 135/135 = 100%. Skew: +0 Neutral.
*Perfect Game on ML Private*
*Perfect Game on UEFL f/x*#ForTheH | #RaysUp https://t.co/8lE0SoUdlg pic.twitter.com/GmnbopEph9— Close Call Sports & Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (@CloseCallSports) October 12, 2020
An August 2019 article by The Ringer stated no umpire has ever called a perfect game for both teams and only 25 umpires have called a perfect game for one of the two teams playing in a game.
Tumpane was one pitch away from being the first.
Here’s a breakdown of Tumpane’s near perfect effort that was filmed before his score was changed to 99.3%…
While he didn’t set a new record for accuracy, it’s still nice to know that with umpires like Angel Hernandez out there consistently trying to screw up baseball games, at least one ump has actually got his act somewhat together when it comes to calling balls and strikes.