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Even though MLB umpires are calling ball and strikes at one of their best rates in years, fan complaints are at an all-time high.
In 2015, umps called 90.4% of balls and strikes accurately, per UmpScorecards. This season, that percentage is up to 93.5%, on par with last year's 93.6% rate.
But fans continue to whine, and Rob Manfred has said that "Robo-Umps" will likely be introduced in 2024.
With all that said, it got us wondering which MLB fans have complained the most in 2022. The Yankees? The Red Sox? The Dodgers?
Well, according to a data sweep conducted by BetOnline.ag, which used a trends software and Twitter API, St. Louis Cardinals fans tweet more complaints than any other fanbase.
This graphic below is based on Twitter data since the start of the season. BetOnline tracked negative tweets from each MLB fanbase about "umpires."
For example, all tweets tagging or mentioning the Yankees, that also talk about umpires, and contain negative keywords such as cheat, cheating, horrible, awful, worst, screwed, paid, terrible, favoring, stupid, dumb, overturn, embarrassing, bad call, missed call, horrible call, terrible call, etc. This was then repeated for each team.
If you are able to use this information in your content, please consider citing the source, www.BetOnline.ag.
Here are the fanbase percentages (percent of all tweets that are negative tweets about umpires):
St. Louis Cardinals – 6.89%
Washington Nationals – 6.67%
Los Angeles Angels – 6.48%
Chicago White Sox – 6.23%
Seattle Mariners – 6.07%
Houston Astros – 5.97%
Tampa Bay Rays – 5.63%
Miami Marlins – 5.26%
San Francisco Giants – 4.68%
Texas Rangers – 4.33%
Philadelphia Phillies – 4.23%
New York Yankees – 4.18%
Cincinnati Reds – 4.16%
Toronto Blue Jays – 4.10%
Atlanta Braves – 3.73%
Kansas City Royals – 3.43%
Pittsburgh Pirates – 2.95%
Oakland Athletics – 2.81%
New York Mets – 2.77%
Minnesota Twins – 2.74%
Baltimore Orioles – 2.62%
Milwaukee Brewers – 2.42%
Colorado Rockies – 1.75%
Boston Red Sox – 1.40%
Detroit Tigers – 1.33%
Chicago Cubs – 1.26%
San Diego Padres – 1.14%
Los Angeles Dodgers – 0.99%
Arizona Diamondbacks – 0.90%
Cleveland Guardians – 0.71%
