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A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is an advocate of the Automated Ball-Strike System, which potentially as early as 2026 could be used to aid MLB home plate umpires, but not replace them. Starting in 2024, MLB focused testing on a challenge system in which the human umpire makes each original call. Data from the spring training test could cause MLB to make alterations to the system for Triple-A games this season. How does the Automated Ball-Strike System work? Stadiums are outfitted with cameras that track each pitch and judge whether it crossed home plate within the strike zone. In early testing, umpires wore ear buds and would hear ball or strike, then relay that to players and fans with traditional hand signals. The challenge system adds a wrinkle. During spring training, human umps will call every pitch, but each team will have the ability to challenge two calls per game, with no additions for extra innings. A team retains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews, which were first used for home run calls in August 2008 and widely expanded to many calls for the 2014 season. Only a batter, pitcher or catcher may challenge a call, signaling with the tap of a helmet or cap; and assistance from the dugout is not allowed. A challenge must be made within 2 seconds, and the graphic of the pitch and strike zone will be shown on the scoreboard and broadcast feed. The umpire then announces the updated count. MLB estimates the process averages 17 seconds. Where will ABS be tested? MLB has installed the system in 13 spring training ballparks that are home to 19 teams. The Florida stadiums, all in the Florida State League, are the stadiums of Detroit, Minnesota, the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Toronto, plus the ballpark shared by Miami and St. Louis. Five test sites in Arizona all are shared: the Diamondbacks/Colorado, Chicago White Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland/Cincinnati, Kansas City/Texas and Seattle/San Diego. About 60% of spring training games are slated for trial, although teams could play vastly different numbers of games with ABS testing. The Diamondbacks are slated for 29 ABS games, while the Cubs have just seven. What is the technology? A Hawk-Eye pose-tracking system of cameras was installed and used to track pitches and whether they are within a strike zone based on the height of each batter, who is measured without shoes before a team’s first test game. MLB estimated the calibration process at less than one minute for each player. There are eight cameras at most of the spring training ballparks in the test and 12 at the Diamondbacks/Rockies stadium. While the strike zone actually called by big league umpires tends to be oval in shape, the ABS strike zone is a rectangle, as in the rule book. Developing a consensus on what a computer strike zone should be has been an issue. When did MLB first start using ABS? MLB started experimenting with ball/strike technology at the independent Atlantic League in 2019. A challenge system was tried in 2021 at eight of nine ballparks that make up the Florida State League. ABS was promoted to five Triple-A parks in 2022 and expanded to all Triple-A stadiums in 2023, the robot alone for the first three games of each series and a human with a challenge system in the final three. That system was in place at the start of 2024, but MLB switched to an all-challenge system last June 25. How successful were teams with challenges last year? Overall return rate over the full Triple-A season was 51%, with challenges by the defense winning 54% and by the offense winning 48%. Challenges with the two-challenge limit in place averaged 3.9 per game, including 2.2 by the offense. The success percentage has been slightly better for video reviews in the major leagues. Teams increased their success rate on video reviews to 53.7% last season, led by the Boston Red Sox at 67.9%. Just 1.6% of first pitches were challenges, but the figure increased to 3.9% for two-strike pitches, 5.2% for three-ball pitches and 8.2% for full counts. Challenge percentages were more likely later in the game. While 1.9% of pitches were challenged in the first three innings, 2.5% were challenged from the fourth through the sixth, 2.8% in the seventh and eighth and 3.6% in the ninth. How has the computer strike zone changed over time? MLB has changed the shape of the ABS strike zone several times. It started with a 19-inch width in 2022, then dropped it to 17 inches matching the width of home plate. Narrowing the strike zone led to an increase in walks and only small changes in strikeout rates. The top of the striker zone was 51% of a batter’s height in 2022 and 2023, then raised to 53.5% in 2024 after pitchers’ complaints the top had been too low. The bottom of the strike zone has been 27% since 2022 after initially being set at 28%. A batter’s stance is not taken into account. ABS makes the ball/strike decision at the midpoint of the plate, 8 1/2 inches from the front and 8 1/2 inches from the back. The contrasts with the rule book zone called by umpires, which says the zone is a cube, and a strike is a pitch that crosses any part. Strikeout rates increased 0.5% and walk rates rose 1% in full ABS games and 0.8% in challenge games. How will ABS impact broadcasts? Concerned the strike zone box on broadcasts could tip whether to challenge and cause fans to yell at players to challenge, MLB plans to experiment with several broadcast alternatives, among them: show the box but not the ball; show the ball but not the box; and to show only corners of the box. How can players give feedback? Dugout iPads available to all teams will have an application called ProTABS that allows players to check pitches against their individual strike zone. Information will update after every plate appearance and players can give MLB comment on single pitches and the overall system. Ronald Blum, AP baseball writer
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After watching videos of a Delta Air Lines jet catch fire upon landing and flip over on a Toronto runway, it’s fair to wonder how anyone could have survived. But aviation experts said it was not surprising that all 76 passengers and four crew walked away from Monday’s disaster, with 21 people suffering minor injuries and only one still hospitalized on Wednesday. It’s a credit, they said, to advances in plane design as well as a crew that flawlessly executed an evacuation plan. “When I first saw (footage of) that aircraft upside down at the airport, I was like: How can that happen? And how can anybody survive that? Michael McCormick, an assistant professor and program coordinator for air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, said. It was absolutely astounding to watch the people actually climbing out. Passenger jet design a factor McCormick and others said the fact that there were only minor injuries shows that passenger jet design and engineering have greatly improved over time. Fuel tanks are stored in the wings, so the wings are designed to break off in a crash to remove a seriously explosive hazard, he said. The tail-like fin of a plane known as a vertical stabilizer is frangible or easily broken meaning an aircraft that has flipped over can stay flat on the ground and passengers and crew are able to evacuate, he said. Aviation is and remains the safest form of transportation,” McCormick said, adding that it was no fluke 80 people were able to walk away from the Toronto crash. “That is because the safety of aviation is constantly improving. Jeff Guzzetti, an airline safety consultant and a former investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, said the seats and seat belts also helped to prevent fatalities. He noted that passenger jet seats are designed to withstand impacts of up to 16 times the force of gravity and that the seat belts restrained the passengers who were suspended upside down as the plane slid to a halt on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The odds of getting injured or killed in an commercial airline accident is far less than driving in your car, Guzzetti said. Crew executed the evacuation plan Experts also credited the crew, who calmly and quickly shepherded many of the passengers off the plane before emergency crews even arrived on the scene. Deborah Flint, CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, called the flight crew heroes, while their boss, Delta CEO Ed Bastian, praised their response as a “testament to the safety thats embedded in the systems. Its horrifying. When you look at the video you can imagine when I received the text minutes after it happened, hearing that there was a regional jet upside down on an active runway with 80 people on board, how I felt without knowing it, what was transpiring,” Bastian said in an interview with CBS Mornings. But the reality is that safety is embedded into our system, he said. “Air travel in the United States is the safest form of transportation and travel there is. Period. And its because we train for events like this. What was it like inside the cabin? Flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto, operated by Delta subsidiary Endeavor Air, crashed on landing around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Videos show the plane hitting the runway hard, bursting into flames then skidding along the tarmac and flipping over. It was very uncomfortable, a very just solid, uncomfortable experience forceful on the impact, sideways movement and suddenly just inverted,” Peter Carlson, a paramedic who was traveling to Toronto for a conference, told The Associated Press. The only mission was to get out.” Carlson was awarded at the paramedics conference for his courageous and meritorious actions in helping other passengers. The certificate says his actions preserved life, reduced injury and provided calm. I have a laceration, abrasion, some bruises on my legs, some bruises on my ribs, but alive,” Carlson said. “Everyone is alive. I don’t know if I am deserving of going into miracle territory but it’s amazing. Other videos appear to show passengers scrambling out of an upside-down cabin as workers assist them off the plane onto the snowy tarmac and emergency crews hose the aircraft with water. Passengers take action Some passengers who have been harmed as a result of the crash retained the law firm Rochon Genova, according to Vincent Genova, head of the company’s Aviation Litigation Group. Our clients, similar to many other passengers, suffered personal injuries of a serious nature that required hospital attention, Genova said in a statement. With our involvement, we expect to reach a timely and fair resolution for these clients and others who reach out to us. A spokesperson for Delta confirmed it has offered each passenger $30,000 and is telling customers this gesture has no strings attached and does not affect rights. A Canadian investigator refused to comment on preliminary theories, although aviation experts told The Associated Press they will likely consider weather conditions, as well as the possibility of human error or an aircraft malfunction. At this point, its far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be, Ken Webster, a senior investigator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said in a video statement Tuesday. He said investigators will examine the wreckage and runway, and that the cockpit voice and flight data recorders are being analyzed. TSB announced Wednesday afternoon that crews were moving the wreckage from the runway to a hangar for further examination. Michael Casey, Associated Press
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The chief executive of streaming giant Netflix on Thursday announced a $1 billion investment to produce some 20 films and TV series in Mexico annually over the next four years. Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum‘s morning press conference in Mexico City, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said he looked forward to entering more partnerships with producers in the Latin American nation. Sheinbaum said the investments in the film industry should produce many jobs beyond immediate production needs, such as hospitality for actors and crew members, fashion designers and also spur tourism. “It’s an industry that gives a lot of mileage to the economy,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s not only important for Mexico to be seen in the world, but also because of the economic development and jobs generated by a production.” Netflix has invested in Mexican productions such as “Club de Cuervos,” a comedy-drama about the politics of a local soccer club, 2018’s “Roma,” the first Mexican entry to win the Oscar for best non-English language film, and last year’s “Pedro Paramo.” “Pedro Paramo,” an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s classic 1955 novel, required the support of hundreds of artists and musicians and the production of some 5,000 traditional textile items, Sarandos said, adding that the book’s sales later tripled. Netflix has already agreed to collaborate with Mexico City’s Estudios Churubusco, one of Latin America’s longest-running film studios, Sarandos said. He added that Netflix plans to fund programs to help talent behind the camera break into the industry, and that Mexico’s geographical variety makes it a good location for filming. Last year, Netflix bought the rights to Oscar-nominated “Emilia Perez,” a French-made musical about a trans Mexican drug lord, which garnered much criticism in Mexico over cultural stereotypes, poor Spanish, lack of Mexican actors and a light treatment of the issue of forced disappearances – and spawned a Mexican-made parody in retaliation. “Emilia Perez” began screening in Mexican cinemas nearly half a year after its European release date, and Mexico’s consumer watchdog had to order a top cinema chain to clarify its guarantee refund policy after many spectators walked out of the movie. ($1 = 20.3374 Mexican pesos) Sarah Morland and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Reuters
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