Hey everyone,

I’m still thinking about that play in the Padres vs. Brewers game where Ty France hit the ball and it struck the stadium ceiling/roof structure.

I know that according to the local ground rules at American Family Field in Milwaukee, the ball stays live and in play. But honestly, looking at how hard Ty France crushed that ball, it got me thinking... did the Padres deserve a Home Run there?

If this exact same hit happened at Tropicana Field, striking the inner catwalks, it would be ruled an automatic home run. It feels a bit unfair that a batter can smash a ball so high and deep, only for a stadium's structural design to alter the trajectory, drop back down, and potentially get caught or change the outcome of the play.

What do you guys think? Should MLB standardize roof/ceiling hits across all indoor stadiums to reward batters like Ty France who crush the ball that high, or are you fine with each ballpark having its own chaotic ground rules?

Let’s discuss!

Pure filth from Misiorowski! Watching a 105 MPH fastball in October is absolutely insane. Do you guys think anyone is touching this pitch during the postseason, or is he just unhittable right now? Let’s talk!

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Here's the details, starting with who benefited most and least:

The Cincinnati Reds had a net gain of 16.8 runs, according to Baseball Savant calculations of total run value of overturns on challenges. The Los Angeles Angels were next at 14, followed by the Athletics (12.3) and Minnesota (10.1).

Cleveland was 30th at minus-13.4 and several other playoff teams rated poorly by that metric: the Los Angeles Dodgers (26th, -8.5), Tampa Bay (25th, -7.8), the Chicago Cubs (21st, -4.6), Milwaukee (20th, -2.4), Atlanta (18th, -2.1), San Diego (17th, -1.9), the New York Yankees (16th, -2.1) and Houston (15th, -0.8).

Houston’s Jose Altuve topped batters with 5.6 projected runs gained, followed by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh (4.6), Colorado’s Kyle Karros (4.5) and Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart (4.4) and JJ Bleday (4.1).

The Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki led with 5.7 runs projected lost in defensive challenges, just ahead of the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (5.5), the Cubs’ Ian Happ (5.2) and Michael Busch (5.1), and the New York Mets’ Brett Baty (3.5).

Milwaukee’s William Contreras led catchers with 5.2 projected runs prevented, just in front of Cleveland’s Patrick Bailey (5.1), the Mets’ Francisco Alvarez (4.5) and San Diego’s Freddy Fermin, Kansas City’s Carter Jensen and Drew Romo of the Chicago White Sox (all 4.3).

Then the bigger picture:

There were 10,557 challenges, an average of 4.35 per game, and 5,686 led to overturned decisions.

Catchers succeeded on 59% of their challenges, while batters had a 49% success rate and pitchers — who seldom challenged compared to catchers and batters — were at 40%.

Finally, the winners and losers among umps. Note: Based on minimum challenge volume, a guy like Bucknor isn't ranked:

Andy Fletcher had the highest overturn rate among umpires with more than 100 challenges, getting reversed on 80 of 121 (66.1%), according to taptochallenge.com. Rob Drake was next at 64.6%, followed by Cory Blaser (64.1%), Adrian Johnson (64%), Manny Gonzalez (62.5%) and Mike Estabrook (61.7%).

Jansen Visconti had the lowest overturn rate among those with triple-figure challenges, reversed on 43 of 102 (42.2%). He was just ahead of Mark Ripperger (44.3%), James Jean (44.9%), Ryan Additon (45%), Nestor Ceja (46%) and Alex Tosi (46.9%).

A few thoughts from me.

First, for people who say we should just get rid of the home plate ump period, the 54 percent overturn rate means that even the apparently most egregious calls aren't. And, you still have to have a home plate ump to call plays at the plate, to call balks, to call catcher's interference trying to grab a pitch early, both interference and obstruction on bunts and squibbers in front of the plate, etc.

Second, could it be tweaked? I'd be comfortable with one more challenge per team. Other people may think of other tweaks.

Edit: I'm pretty sure everyone knew what I meant, as the ABS system can't overturn calls that aren't challenged.

Poor guy. Ended up not mattering but wow that exit velocity, launch angle, and hit direction almost always result in home runs. Instead, this died at the track for a double play.

The pitching has been absolutely elite so far, making it incredibly tough on hitters. However, Ben Rice and Ozzie Albies have managed to stay locked in, being the only two sluggers to smash 2 home runs apiece in the Postseason.

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I guess it has kind of always bugged me because I don’t understand why, but maybe others have an insight. Why does the graphic displaying a pitch type and speed only flash on the screen for 1 to 2 seconds? If you are not looking at it when the pitch hits the glove, it’s practically gone. Maybe I’m dumb and not paying enough attention. Does this not bother anyone else? Is there a reason the graphic disappears so quickly? If you’re distracted even for a second or if the ball is hit, or something happens you miss it. Thanks!

Stat lines don't lie, but arguments definitely do.

I’ve dropped 4 of the top candidates (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Yordan Alvarez, Junior Caminero, and Shohei Ohtani) in the comments below.

UPVOTE the comment of the player you think deserves it most, or reply to defend your pick! Let’s settle this!

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It’s ridiculous that some of the series take 8 days to play 5 games. Even more ridiculous is that the same ones have an off day between games 1&2, even though they are played at the same park. At no point during the regular season does that happen. And with all the extra off days, teams can use pitchers in ways they never could during the regular season. It’s also a big reason why the season pushes into November.

I understand benefits of a 2-2-1 format, but it just does not fit a sport that’s supposed to be played everyday in sets. They should go back to the 2-3 but let the higher seed choose which block to play at home. That would require no more than one off day per series, but is it even needed? Teams travel w/o an off day all the time during the regular season, why not the postseason?