The Chicago Cubs’ ninth-inning rally ended Saturday night when home-plate umpire Mark Wegner called strike three on Ben Zobrist. The deciding pitch, a slider from Arizona Diamondbacks reliever David Hernandez, appeared to be a couple inches low, at least to everyone in a Cubs uniform. All Zobrist could do was stand at the plate with his right hand up, questioning Wegner in the moment and telling reporters afterwards that the time has come for an automated strike zone — i.e. robot umpires.
“If we want to change something like that, we’re going to have an electronic strike zone because human beings are going to make mistakes,” Zobrist said.