Enhanced Gameday FAQ
Thanks to everyone who visited the debut of Enhanced Gameday during the Cardinals at Padres game on Tuesday, and especially to those who provided feedback and comments on the product!
Below is a brief Q&A that we hope will address many of the questions and comments raised during the course of yesterday’s game. Enhanced Gameday is underway for today’s Athletics at Twins game, and we will be offering this feature for additional selected games throughout the postseason, so look for continued improvements as we work to make this the most informative and fan-friendly application possible. Thanks again for your feedback!
Q: What happened to my old Gameday?
A: Enhanced Gameday is not a replacement for Classic Gameday, but instead is a complement to it. Our goal is to provide new and informative information about the batter vs. pitcher matchup, which has never before been available before in real time. However, we did not want to disrupt the current display so we added Enhanced Gameday as a new window and provided the ability to quickly toggle back and forth between the two. The two views will be more seamlessly integrated in future versions.
Q: Where is the runners-on-base indicator?
A: This was added during the game in response to your feedback.
Q: Where are the box score, lineup tab, field graphic and play-by-play?
A: These features are still available in Classic Gameday, which can be accessed by clicking the Gameday icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
Q: Where does this data come from?
A: A series of high-speed cameras are installed in the ballpark, which record dozens of images of each pitch in real time. From those images we are able to determine the speed, trajectory and location of the pitch at any point along its path from the pitcher towards home plate. That pitch data is merged with the stats data entered by our scorekeepers in the ballpark and then presented in Enhanced Gameday.
Q: Why are the pitch locations different in Enhanced Gameday vs. Classic Gameday?
A: The pitch locations in Classic Gameday are entered by our scorers in the ballpark, but are not exact; they are the best human attempt to approximate the location of the pitch. The high-speed camera system in Enhanced Gameday makes it far more accurate than the locations previously available in Classic Gameday.
Q: Why show two speed values for each pitch?
A: The first value represents the speed of the pitch as it leaves the pitcher’s hand, and the second shows the speed of the pitch as it crosses the front of the plate. Wind resistance, spin and gravity cause the ball to decelerate starting the instant the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand, so any single speed value doesn’t tell the entire story about the pitch.
The following color scale describes the variation in pitch trajectory colors based on the average pitch speed:
Q: Why is break provided as on value instead of one each for horizontal and vertical?
A: We consulted with players, front-office staff, broadcasters and physicists before settling on one number to represent the overall break of the pitch. A pitch does not move in separate horizontal and vertical planes, but rather follows a smooth curve as it goes from the pitcher to home plate, so the single break value takes this overall movement into account. Look for further explanation of "break", and possibly more data, in the near future.
Q: Why not display pitch type (fastball, curve, etc.)?
A: This is a feature we expect to add during the 2007 season.
Q: Will I be able to view the pitch data presented in other ways (by pitcher, average speed, etc.)?
A: We will continue to expand the presentation of the pitch data during the 2007 season, based largely on user feedback of how the data would be most useful.
Q: Can I mouse over the pitch graphic for more information?
A: This is a feature we hope to add during the postseason but if not it will be included during the 2007 season.
Q: Why use the 3/4 view instead of straight-on?
A: Using a straight-on view would limit our ability to display the trajectory of the pitch, so we slightly rotated the view to provide the best possible perspective. (The standard camera angle when watching on TV is also slightly offset from center.) Currently you can choose between a 3/4 view from behind the pitcher or behind the pitcher, and future versions of Enhanced Gameday will allow you to customize the angle and vantage point from which the pitch is displayed.
Q: Why are the strike zone and previous pitch lines so dim against the black background?
A: We will adjust the color scheme in the near future to make these features more prominent
Gameday 
There doesnt seem to be a way to get the pitchers line and info. Pitch count, etc.
To repeat myself — I like break as a single magnitude rather than horiz/vertical, but I’d like to see break direction as well.
this is really cool.
thanks!
but while you are showing the batter’s info of batting left of right, can you also show the info (RHP or LHP) for the pitcher?
Over all this is a great beginning of an upgrade. And thanks for the FAQ which says:
“Enhanced Gameday is not a replacement for Classic Gameday, but instead is a complement to it. Our goal is to provide new and informative information … we did not want to disrupt the current display so we added Enhanced Gameday as a new window … The two views will be more seamlessly integrated in future versions. ”
I think it is a great start and I look forward to that seamless integration. I have no problem going back and forth to help you get it right, but long term it would be a pain.
Real slick interface… real nice upgrade to what is out there right now.
It would be real nice if we could see where the ball went. Even it were just a simple dot like it was for the original gameday.
Also its tough to read the names of the players on base and would be better if it could be toggled being always on and always off.
When mousing over the on base indicator, the font used is very difficult to read.
i can’t find “enhanced gameday” for the current Dodgers-Mets game. why is it not availabe for some games?
o2kenobi, check out the second paragraph in the faq:
“Enhanced Gameday is underway for today’s Athletics at Twins game, and we will be offering this feature for additional selected games throughout the postseason,”
It will be only selected games.
I think this Enhanced Gameday has a lot of good things going for it. I like the pitch speed and the fact you can now see the movement of the ball. As for the break measurement, I don’t know if it is all that necessary since you can see the release point and ball movement in the display.
Some suggestions:
1)Carry over putting numbers in the pitch dots like in the classic mode. After a 10-pitch at bat, there are so many red dots that it becomes hard to know which pitch was first, second, etc.
2) Also carry over from the classic mode where the ball was hit. I know you can just switch back to classic mode, but you should not have to click the switch button every time the ball is hit to see where the ball landed.
3) I like how you now show baserunners, but when you replay the pitches from a previous at bat, Gameday does not show the baserunners during that at-bat. It still shows the current baserunning situation. Maybe while replaying the previous at-bats, it would be nice if at the same time it would replay what happened on the base paths during that at-bat, including steals, pick-offs, etc.
4) I would love it you could replace the black background for a drawing or photograph of the baseball stadium the game is in. Also, instead of having an invisible pitcher on the mound, maybe you could have a visual representation (similar to the generic hitter) of a pitcher in throwing motion. The generic pitcher could visually match the current pitcher in the game (left-handed, right-handed, submarine, overhand, and so on)
All in all, I love Gameday and hope that the innovation continues
I think it is great that you are able to switch back from the Classic to the Enhanced so easy, without loading. I’m pleased with this, as it makes it easier to find out the things you cannot find out on the Classic. Thanks for showing compassion for your fans with this new Gameday.
I don’t think your color scale is extreme enough to serve it’s intent – quickly indicate the great variability in pitch speeds? Why not go from red to yellow to white (hot)?
Great new addition, what I’ve seen of it I love. A couple of things rgold is right the colour scheme needs to be differnt and the basepaths graphic needs work furthermore i have just on one major question. Is a higher break better or worse. All in all, thanks.
On top of the color thing that a lot of other people are bringing up, it’d be nice to have the pitch number on the ball after its throw, like in Classic Gameday. But overall, excellent work.
In the 3-D graphic can not tell which pitch is which. In the Classic they are numbered on the graphics. Like the details in the enhanced.
One thing that could be a good addition for the future. When the ball is hit, why not have a view that changes to show the field (kind of like from slightly above the catcher) to show an enhanced view of where the ball went. As in, rather than just showing the runner ends up on first. During the delay between batters (because of on field play) you could show the path the ball took off the bat. You could use the same concept of colors (red for hot, dark for blooper) and also the same icons (ie pitcher release point icon could also be used for batter contact point, and so on). This could take out those lags in between batters and make the games easier to follow. Overall this is a great addition and I was just thinking this could be a great addition to the whole aspect of gameday in general. Hope I made sense with the camera angle for the “ball in play” view. maybe like 15 feet above the catchers view point and looking in the same 3/4 view. Just enough to show movement, and where in landed in the outfield as compared to the “normal” starting position of the fielding unit.
Some kinks may need to be worked out a bit, but I like the new version idea in general.
I think balls should be red and strikes should be green – just makes more sense to me.
Might want to use yellow for foul pitches, so it doesn’t look like the batter has six strikes.
This is a great addition!! I love it so far!
One suggestion – instead of displaying “out”, is it possible to say, for example, “out: 4-3”?
Can we get a pitch count?
Thanks for adding the diamond to show who is on base. I also miss seeing ‘where’ the ball landed, or was caught, and the dimensions and ‘shape’ of the ballfield. Could that be added back in somehow?
Pitch #’s and the field to display where the ball is…Otherwise, great job, I like it!
Thanks for adding the baserunners. Definitely a good improvement. A technical issue I’ve noticed both Tuesday and today, however, is that if you go to Classic Mode and click on a player’s name in the box score to see their stats, close that box, and switch to Enhanced then EVERY time you come back to Classic that stats box is open again. It gets frustrating closing it every time if you are switching back and forth to look at different information.
I like the graphics but I still feel the classic gives more valuable information than the enchanced. Pitch count, where the ball was hit, pass balls etc. Showing me the arch of the ball is great but it does nothing to provide the overall details of the game. The best new feature is showing the past at bats. This way you can see how the pitcher is going after the hitter.
It appears that pitches that seem to be fastballs(higher speeds) show a greater break than pitches with lower speeds(lickely breaking pitches). Now that doesn’t make sence.
Way to go with enhanced gameday! This product seems faster than the old gameday as well. I was listening to the radio broadcast and noticed that the enhanced gameday was ahead of the audio! Your FAQs answered my comments– especially as to the runners on base issue…
One bug I noticed. If you click on a player’s name to check out the stats in Classic, then close it and switch back and forth between the two modes, every time you go back to Classic the stat window pops up.
The pitch count is up in the same box (upper portion dead center) as the number of outs. Up there you can see how man balls to strikes, unless of course you are talking pitch count where each previous pitch has a number in the middle of the colored dot, then i agree that it needs the labels to help establish the pitching tendencies. Good though overall. I believe in between a hit and the next batter it should show some sort of “3-D” representation of a baseball field with a ball tragectory and all that good stuff. This way you could see where the ball was hit, and how the play was established. Again its a good start.
Seems like the break values aren’t exactly correct, i don’t think Mussina’s curve breaks less than his fastball…
I like the enhanced version but I don’t like not being able to see the pitch count.
In Firefox, the pitches box doesn’t refresh correctly. (E.g. if batter 1 faces 7 pitches, then it continues to show pitches 2-7 for the previous batter, and pitch 1 for the current batter; if then batter 2 faces 4 pitches when batter 3 faces pitch 1, we see batter 1 pitch 5-7, batter 2 pitch 2-4, and batter 3 pitch 1.) It’s very confusing.
I like the new enhanced gameday, but could you make the speed color change between say yellow for slow and red for fast? To me the color changes at the moment are too difficult to distinguish.
I look forward to seeing the changes as they happen, and to seeing further changes next season.
I live in the UK and rely on MLB.com to keep me up to date with the game. Gameday has always been my ‘finger on the pulse’ of a game and it just got better! Thanks.
what about ball in play indications? In classic gameday, you have a dot that shows where the ball was actually hit in the field of play. Now all you have is text to say, ground ball to the shortstop…Looks good, though
The main reason I tune into Gameday is to monitor pitch count. I really want that, and the written play-by-play, to be clearly visible.
With this pitch location information, could you make a display showing the umpire’s real strike zone? I’d imagine that plotting called balls and called strikes where your camera system spots them could give you enough data to reliably draw a graphic showing how likely a ball thrown at position (x,y) was to be called a ball or strike during the course of this game. For example, a foot away from home plate might see 0% of pitches called for strikes, the heart of the plate could see a 100% value, but the gradation between the two, and where said gradation occurs, would be very interesting information which Enhanced Gameday has made it very possible to collect. Next season, you could even do it for all the Major League umps over the entire course of the season, see who has the most consistent strike zone and where it is, in relation to the box from the rule book.
Enhanced mode is very cool. Keep up the good work. One additional feature I would like to see is where the out occurs (like it does in the “classic” view – only “Enhanced” 😉
Guys,
I love the new pitch information. It really adds a lot. I do miss the ability to get pitcher and batter stats like you could on the classic version. This feature would be really great if you could get it on previous innings as well (unlike Classic).
I’ll also reiterate the ptich count feedback that was given a few times above. I love to know how efficient starting pitchers are when I use gameday.
Finally, while I understand this froma marketing perspective, the postseason logo is wasting a lot of real estate. You could probably use this space to improve the onbase indicator. I thought the one you used in Classic was pretty strong.
This is a great enhancement. I would love the following enhancements:
1) show the pitch type (fastball, curveball, etc.)
2) also show the pitch location represented as an x,y coordinate. Divide the zone where a pitch could land into a 2D grid and assign an x,y value to each pitch location.
3) allow for the download of a text file after the game that shows all of the pitches and results. Since you capture this pitch by pitch data it would be easy to allow a simple text file download.
Awesome job!
-Neil
Here’s an obscure suggestion for you: allow viewers to specify a delay or lag time before the screen is updated. Gameday (especially enhanced version) is AWESOME to use in conjunction with the live audio feeds, EXCEPT WHEN THE AUDIO LAGS BEHIND! This happens often, and it is very annoying to see that “hit into play, out(s) recorded” notification when you’re still hanging on every word of the radio announcer’s description of the previous 2-2 pitch. Implement a user-specified delay before the gameday application processes events, and you’ll make exactly one Twins fan very VERY happy!
The background shouldn’t be black cause you can’t see the batting area.
Is this a good place to post feedback?
I like the new Gameday, it has lots of potential. One thing that jumps out at me right away was not having the pitches numbered. In a long at-bat you end up with lots of pitch-lines but theres no way of knowing in what order they came in.
So that’s one thing I’d like to see. Keep up the good work guys!
I do appreciate the newest tech. in your Gameday. The coloring of pitches is good, but I have to agree that a foul on a two strike count would be easier to see if the pitch had a ring around the red, or something. But, I like how each pitch is listed to the right. The only flaws that I see is that there is no way of telling the number in the pitchers pitch count, and the baserunner that scored. The original Gameday would give that info as the play progressed or by simply moving the cursor over the pitchers face.
I think the new Enhanced mode is a nice addition to the existing Gameday setup, though it’ll be best to judge when, next season, the new features are integrated with the general game (rather than individual pitch) features now in the “Classic” mode. A general comment on a point of some disagreement among those posting here: I find the “break” figure to be essentially useless as currrently posted. While it is true that dividing a pitch’s break in to horizontal and vertical dimensions is in some sense artificial, providing a single figure that attempt to include both dimensions tells the viewer nothing at all. Indeed, a difficulty with any “break” statistic is that it assumes that the pitch will travel in a straight line from the release point (or perhaps a perfect parabola from the release point). Thus, a laser beam would have the same “break” as a “la lob” or “eephus” pitch, provided they both crossed the plate in the same spot. I’m not sure how that can be captured other than visually, but it’s a point worth noting.
What would be great is for the trajectory motion animation to be accurate to the actual speed of the pitch. So you would really get a good idea of just how fast the pitch looks to be to the batter.
EYEPOPPING and absolutely stunning! I am stunned. I think, however, that there are a lot of people out there who still do not understand that “enhanced” is designed as ADD-ON, NOT to REPLACE “Classic.”
OUTSTANDING! I can’t wait to see future versions. I have been an enormous fan of Gameday for a couple of years. Being a software instructor myself, I can appreciate how many HOURS of thought, trial, and error went into what has already been created.
this new system stinks. iwas able to get more information with the classic formate
Your window size, which is fixed, is much smaller than most computer screens today. How about developing one screen that is much larger (say 1152×864) that can contain those elements from the “classic” view that are missing from the “enhanced” view along with the “enhanced” features?
I love the new Enhanced Gameplay, but have discovered like everyone else that it is very much supplemental to (and not a replacement for) Classic Gameday. Shouldn’t it be possible then, to open one window in Classic and one in Enhanced? This seems like the easiest solution until the newer version incorporate some of the missing elements from Classic Gameday and I find it very limiting to not have this ability now (outside of opening a IE browse and Firefox browser and getting around the limitation that way).
Keep up the good work.
In reading over previous comments, I have to agree wholeheartedly with austinflom@gmail.com in his/her comments about incorporating a manually-defined delay in Gameday. As a MLB.tv subscriber this season, I can recall numerous occasions where the suspense of the moment in watching the game was ruined by the one, two, or even three pitch head start of Gameday.
Gravity does not cause the ball to decelerate. Air resistance (or friction) does alone. The spin can add to this resistance. Gravity, if anything adds to the velocity of the pitch because the mound is higher than the plate.
Another total agreement with austinflom@gmail.com about incorporating a manually-defined delay in Gameday. This is critical for MLB.tv and audio users and has bothered me for two years.
I agree with saulbey@gmail.com. Kids and adults will get the wrong idea about the laws of physics from reading this blog. Consult with physicists before posting in the future.
i like the format but would like to see the pitches correspond to the audio feed. i don’t like seeing the pitch before i hear the play-by-play. maybe match the 7-second delay.
love the new design, very slick looking. One problem I have with both the enhanced and the classic view is that sometimes the gameday is ahead of the broadcast. This is especially true when I listen to the online stream, or on my xm. Would it be possible to have a customizable “delay” slider, so I could, with some fiddling, get the two in sync? Otherwise, the gameday spoils the broadcast’s suspense!
Ehanced Gameday is a very interesting upgrade to Gameday (which was already the best product on the market). One thing that is very much needed is a “Pitch Count” display.
Sometimes at the end of an inning, the result of the play that ended the inning isn’t displayed and Gameday immediately switches the batter/pitcher information. Also, the Result info is not always updated throughout normal play. Could the last play of the inning be held for a short period of time?
Also, there’s not always room for the Result in the batter’s info box, especially when it’s long such as “Grounded into DP”. In this case, the pitcher’s name runs into the result info.
Thanks!
I agree that I would like to see the hit location, pitch number as well as the pitch count and lineup to the side.
I also agree that it is a great start.
I also would like this data to be available as a download, either as a text file or preferably an excel file. I would probably even pay to be able to download this type of information.
Thanks
First off, our emails should be hidden.
I don’t expect many people watch this gameday constantly. At a glance you should be able to discern the state of the inning easily. This version does not do that.
However, there is plenty of space available for the original gameday “field view”, (which did this well), within this enhanced version; in either view. Why not just lay a muted version of field-view down in the background? This would be easy in the software environment that your developers are working.
It’s awsome. I love innovations.
Here are some sugestions:
1 – The “pitchers 3/4” view is from the left to right when a LHP is on the mound. And it should be this way to the RHP too. Like it is on TV.
2 – You have to put the numbers of the player, such as AVG., HR and RBI. It should be shown when putting the mouse over the player’s photo.
3 – You could put the pitches velocity in the classic gameday too.
I’m sorry for my bad english. Keep innovating.
I remembered something.
Besides the mound there’s a empty space. You could put the field view there, to see where the hit went.
What happpend to the 3D data during Game 3 of Oak vs Det?
Otherwise, kudos on a great innovation, and I hope you can incorporate the many good suggestions above, especially about showing where the hits/outs go with the empty space to the right…
In enhanced mode, can you animate the batter to simulate his swing?
In the score at the top of both the classic & enhanced, Its very confusing to place the team leading the game first. I recommend putting the away team first and the home team second, so it doesn’t keep switching back & forth when the lead changes.
Otherwise, great job!
I too agree with SaulBey@gmail.com. Why would you want to mislead the public like this? And so blatantly, too!? Shame on you.
First of all, I want to say WOW! I don’t know if users are understanding how impressive this Enhanced gameday feature is!!! I’m a public librarian, and I work with complex data on well-crafted webpages and internet applications all the time, but what you’ve pulled off whith theis feature is nothing short of amazing! Real time internet gaming is comparable, but you are tracking data on real life tangible and visual actions.
When I saw that all of the pitch re-creations for each at bat in the Tigers game October 15, I couldn’t believe MLB.com was tracking this for the fans and making it the at-bat data available for previous at bats, even for previous games! This aspect is very important as it allows the fan to re-create important moments from earlier in the game’s action.
I will only stay tuned to see what happens next.
I only hope the product will retain what it contains currently and it remain a free service.
Thanks for all the hard work and ingenuity.
ABOUT STATS:
I’d like to see season/specialized stats (BA, Ks, BBs, & something situational like BA w RISP or BA with 1st & 3rd 2 outs, or OBA when leading off) for the current batter nearby. It would be unique to show stats that are more important in the current situation: When you show a batter’s total Ks and it’s like 6, you should also show the AB to give a fair comparison.
Pitchers should also have stats nearby. In-game stats (#P, P/INN, P/AB, % of 1st pitch strikes, K, BB, R, ER) and season stats (ERA, IP, & situational: BA for LH vs RH batters).
All of these should be “intelligent,” adaptive stats that describe the current AB in a “predictive” way. I would like to see a special stat if possible, e.g. Cardinal’s pitcher Suppan’s only home run came off Steve Trachsel (the current pitcher in gm 3 NLCS) in 2004. It would have been a useful stat because he happened to get his second HR in that AB.
It’s a lot of info on the screen at once so the problem could be solved by having a little mouse-over box that says “In-game Stats” and a second that says “Season Stats” and others could be added, e.g. during the playoffs there could be two extra mouse overs for “Post-season Stats” and “NLCS Stats”. You could have “Lifetime Stats” (condensed) and “Stats Against This Batter”.
Another option could be to have a page (tab) with lots of stats for this batter. I don’t like having to click on the player’s name and wait for a new browser to open with the whole stats section of MLB.COM. I want to go there only when I have a special interest: in his biography, game log from a previous game this year or how he played during his rookie season, etc.
Do you remember when they tried to broadcast NFL games without announcers?
They just flashed a bunch of stats on the screen that were relevant.
BUGS I NOTICED:
I sent screenshots to the following email addresses (subject – Gameday bug screenshots):
gameday@website.mlb.com gameday@mlb.com
info@mlb.com
webmaster@mlb.com
Bug: On the Batter’s Previous At-Bats section I saw 2 blue dots for Edmonds’ 1st AB game 4 NLCS 2006 during his second AB. There were a total of 4 dots but when I clicked on it there were only 3 pitches for that AB. Now I see Molina has an extra blue dot in the same place as Edmonds’ extra blue dot (below and to the left of the bottom left corner of the strike zone). (see attachment “During Molinas second at bat.jpg”)
Bug: I went back to the “Live At-Bat” then clicked on “previous at-bat” again and it didn’t show me the pitches and the whole top was undefined. (see attachment “After Molinas second at bat.jpg”)
Bug: Somehow there were two in-play pitches (green rows) when Beltran came to the plate. The lead-off batter had 6 pitches, then the second batter had 2 pitches but the first six pitches weren’t erased. Then the 3rd batter came to the plate with all those pitches still showing AND he is listed as the 1st (lead-off) batter. The diamond is correct (see attachment “Bug with pitches and at-bats.jpg”)
SUGGESTIONS:
1) The blue dot shouldn’t say “Hit,” it should say “In Play”
2) Next to a specific pitch, it should say “In play, 2 runs scored” not “In play, run(s)”
3) The pitcher’s “Release” symbol has problems: It’s ugly with those 4 little pegs sticking out, it’s an unnecessary color, and it’s not a proper release. A true release wouldn’t move to the newest release point. It would show where pitch #1’s release point was – the way it is now looks like a single release point for all of the pitches. It should be renamed and redesigned more simply.
4) The mound and the rubber are pretty useless and take up too much space.
5) The “AT-BATS” table has rows that are too tall and they repeat too much of the same info: AB BATTER PITCHER RESULT on every line. I would like to see more at bats at once. I can only see 5 at bats without scrolling and two of them are for upcoming batters. The AB column has numbers that are too large
6) PITCHES table has rows that are too high also, but the worst thing is that the yellow in the result column is hard to read with the medium-gray background.
7) RESULT section is too big. It’s never full and if it is, it can be scrolled.
8) The words “BATTER’S PREVIOUS AT-BATS” shouldn’t be right above the current diamond.
9) You could put little players on the bases instead of red cubes and you could have their numbers on their jerseys.
10) A BIG ONE: Could you make some of the tables/sections resizable? The whole Gameday is resizable but it just makes black space if I maximize. We are all getting bigger monitors and it would be nice to have different resolutions to choose from (e.g. 400 x 400 – less info, 800 x 800 – 4x more pixels/info). Sort of the way you can change the size of the image on Mapquest.
MINOR OBSERVATION:
When I click “Preview” it shows my message with a time stamp 4 hours ahead of EST, but when it posts to the list it’s 3 hours behind EST (i.e. PST).
MAJOR ANNOYANCE:
ALSO, AS SOMEONE SAID “YOU SHOULDN’T SHOW OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES.” I HAD TO MAKE A NEW ACCOUNT JUST TO POST HERE. THERE ARE HARVESTING PROGRAMS THAT WILL PUT EVERYONE OF THESE ADDRESSES IN THEIR EMAILING/SPAM LISTS FOREVER. ISN’T THERE SOMETHING IN YOUR PRIVACY POLICY AGAINST THIS?
First of all, great job.
My suggestion: I don’t know if anyone else has come up with this, but how about a “PLAY MODE” which enables continuous display of all the ABs, without showing the final result? That way, when I miss games, I can still watch then on gameday the next day and enjoy them.
I think the enhanced version is very good.
Suggestion: have a toggle key to switch back and forth between the enhanced and classic view. It’s much faster to switch views than having to drag the mouse cursor and clicking.
I really like what has been done.
I would like to be able to see the picture info.
when switching back to the classic view there is always a box with tom glavin stats. not sure if it is a glitch for today or not. also like the line up and field graffic from the classic that does not appear in the enhanced
I agree with pinto196. The classic system displayed much more useful info. The break factor is really lame. Don’t get me wrong, though, the Classic version rocks.
The “break” figure as you currently have it in Enhanced Gameday is virtually worthless. It tells you almost nothing about the character of the pitch, primarily due to the way you have defined it.
First, let’s look at your statement in the FAQ:
>> “A pitch does not move in separate horizontal and vertical planes, but rather follows a smooth curve as it goes from the pitcher to home plate, so the single break value takes this overall movement into account.”
This is an absolutely incorrect statement. By definition, a horizontal plane is always horizontal, and a vertical plane is always vertical. Unless the pitch moved perfectly up-and-down with no sideways movement, OR perfectly side-to-side with no up-down movement, then it obviously DID move in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Though the trajectory was a smooth curve in a single direction, that direction was (and can always be) resolved/described as a combination of horizontal and vertical movement.
By making the break a single number (though that number may be accurate), you have no idea as to the character of the break. Did the pitcher throw a backdoor slider (pitch started off the plate and broke inward enough to be a strike), or a sinker (pitch started in the strike zone, then broke downward)? With a single number you have no idea. With separate horizontal and vertical break figures, then you know immediately.
In a second, separate issue, the way you’re computing the break figure results in meaningless numbers again because of the lack of direction. You’re computing the break (according to your FAQ) as the difference in distance of where the ball actually hit the strike zone, versus where a no-spin pitch that left the pitcher’s hand at the same velocity and direction would have landed. Without direction on the break numbers, this is about worthless. Example: For most fastballs, you’re seeing the break number between 11″ and 13″. This is actually a distance UP (that’s right, UP!) from where your computed “no-spin” pitch would have landed. That’s because the fastball has backspin on it, which makes it drop less than a no-spin ball. Your computed “no-spin” ball would have dropped MORE due to gravity and no backspin, so the break is UP. By contrast, a 12-to-6 curve ball (which has forward spin on it) should land further down from the “no-spin” ball. Yet, the break numbers for curve balls are showing as 1″-2″, yet that figure is DOWN. To the casual observer, this looks like the curve ball has broken less than the fastball, which is clearly not the case.
The standard methods I have seen for measuring break do not reference the break from the “no-spin” ball location, which includes the effect of gravity. The standard method takes the straight-line vector (speed and direction) of the pitch as it leaves the pitcher’s hand and project that towards the strike zone, with no compensation for gravity or anything else. Then, the pitch’s actual location is compared to that. In this way, the pitches ALWAYS break downwards from the reference point, as they should. If computed like that, the fastball would break 1″-3″ inches downward, whereas the curve ball would break 14″-16″ downward, which is a much more intuitive figure. Adding separate horizontal and vertical components on top of that would then allows you to actually characterize the pitch in your mind.
If you’re not going to change it to this type of system, then just leave the break figure off the display. As it’s currently set up it’s absolutely worthless and confusing, and the screen real estate could be used for something far more useful.
i COMPLETELY agree with somejoe7777’s post aboe…the break information, as currently conveyed, is very confusing…prior to reading the explanation provided on the FAQ page, it made absolutely no sense to me how a pitch that looked to be a fastball could be shown to break 10″ more than a pitch that looked to be a curveball…even now, after taking the time to understand how the break is measured, i still feel like i am not being told what i want to know, namely, the direction and quantity of movement a certain pitch has…though the conventional vertical/horizontal measurement of break may be less technically sound, i think it would be much, much more informative for the average fan
one more thing: any plans to include batted ball info anywhere? information such as: speed of the ball off the bat, angle of batted ball, type of batted ball, distance, etc.
I absolutely agree with someone7777. You need a new break factor. Also, how about a background? Like, you could have a field in the background, and when the ball is hit in play, you could move the camera up 15-25 feet. This “field view” could show the trajectory of the ball after it was hit, and where it landed or was caught. Oh, and you could also have holographic pictures of the fielders and baserunners.
Definitely keep the classic view with the running box score, unless you find a way to integrate it into the new system. That box is the only way I can get a fast history of the game without having to wait for the writeup by the correspondents to come out.
Would it be possible to delay the Gameday similar to the Audio delay so that you can listen and watch the Gameday and have them close to similar timing?
All this new stuff is cool…but all I really want is there not to be a delay. Sometimes my gameday wont update for two minutes and then all of a sudden it updates and i’ve missed three batters! If it were up to me I’d get rid of all the extra information i.e. the new pitch info, or the ability to change camera angle, if it meant the update would be faster. Seriously, who cares that the camera angle on the batter changes. I’m not seeing anything different or getting an different information. Then again, the problem could be with my computer or my connection. In which case all the new stuff is great.
enhanced gameday is so confusing. it gives way too much information. i just want to keep track of games and watch my team when theyre not on tv. the gameday screen is cluttered with too much useless information. classic is MUCH better.
Can someone PLEASE tell me where the chat option is at on the new gameday??
lol
Two items for Gameday:
I am an old guy (now far sighted)& prefer screen settings 800 x 600. Could vertical & horizontal scrow bars be added so the lower screen resolution can be used?
For the “line up section” I would recommend fixing the header so when scroling down the fields titles as still visable – simular to what one can do in excell
Great job w/ the interface here! MLB now wins out clearly for me over Yahoo, ESPN, etc… especially with the option to turn off animation, so it doesn’t waste all of my cpu.
I do wish that the boxscore (right-most) frame will be extended to line up with the bottom of the other frames. It is currentlt too small to see much without scrolling a lot.
Keep up the great work!
How come the gameday is several minutes behind everything consistently. My fantasy update on foxsports is two innings ahead of the game day and the website story headlines for the gameday are atleast an hour behind the gameday at all times on all games. I want to know if my team is winning and a Scott Rolen single doesn’t give me the indication of the current score or what caused. Why is this a problem, why is it so exagerratedly profound, why haven’t you designed the headlines to automatically update with the gameday, and will you ever fix this? Please understand how otherwordly frustrating this is and thatt If I wanted an update a half hour behind I wouldn’t be checking the gameday. The entire point is updated scores and stats if that’s not happening why are you even wasting your time on it, let alone mine?
what is the point of this gameday thing? It updates 1 time per 24 hours. I still am showing Jermaine Dye at bat with a 3-2 count for the last hour. Last time I clicked on Gameday, Darin Erstad was at bat for about 6 hours before I stopped checking. I mean…come on… Darin Erstad for 6 hours?!?! That could be a horror movie.
Hmmm…. I just noticed that when I click on a news article inside of Gameday in Firefox that it doesn’t open a new tab with the news article in it… Instead, it tries to load the following URL inside the same Gameday window:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2007/gd.html?http:__mlb.mlb.com_NASApp_mlb_news_gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070502&content_id=1942255&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&env=prod
The result is:
“Invalid gameID. Gameday aborted. Click here to close window and try again.”
Well, Gameday no longer works here – it gets a few batters into the game, and then stays there, perhaps updating once during the game, but no more than that. What’s going on?
how do I know which games are selected to show pitch trajectory and speed and whatnot? it has the option in the “options” tab on Gameday and refers to “selected games” but I see nothing that states which is which. anything?
It would be great if the batter’s silohouette matched the stance and physique of each individual hitter, instead of the cookie cutter righty or lefty batters.
It would be great if the ball hit into play symbols were different color so you could tell right away what happened without having to mouse over the marker. For instance, instead of always blue make the indicators:
yellow – out(s)
orange – run(s) and out(s)
blue – in play, no out(s)
purple – run(s), no out(s)
Right now, you can’t tell the difference between a three-run homerun and an innning-ending double play until the rest of the interface updates. Thanks.
I have a comment concerning the break of a pitched ball and its relation to the horizontal and vertical movements. First, it is crucial to realize that the direction of the bat crossing the plate is nearly horizontal. When a batter misses the ball it is usually because the ball is displaced VERTICALLY up or down from the bat. This is not rocket science. Thus, the vertical break is more important than the horizontal break.
The main objective of a batter is to predict the trajectory of the pitched ball, before adjusting the swing of the bat to meet the ball square-on. Humans (and especially animals) are hard-wired in their brains to predict the trajectory of an object flying through the air. For example, an outfielder (and homerun batters) can predict the trajectory of a hit ball immediately after it is hit, much before it reaches its highest point. Thus, from the batter?s point of view, the vertical break is more important than the horizontal break.
Finally, in comparison, the horizontal break is much more difficult to process in the brain than the vertical break. This is because our brains have been hard-wired to account for the force of gravity acting in the downward vertical direction. Thus, a batter misjudging the trajectory of a pitched ball because of the horizontal break usually results in the ball not hitting the sweet-spot of the bat, but still being hit.
For these reasons, I vote for displaying the vertical break separately from the horizontal break and emphasizing the vertical break. Furthermore, the measurement of the vertical break should be judged according to what our brain is hard-wired to expect – the trajectory of a ball with moderate spin (whatever that is).
With reguard to the comments of heiman@comcast.net and others… Yes, the brain is very good at predicting trajectories. However, we are not conscious of the vector components of motion. It is quite possible the brain does not generate something corresponding to our notions of horizontal and vertical components. One reason to believe this is that our ability to catch and throw is generally not affected by our orientation in space. While it may be more convenient for some to have the break broken into horizontal and vertical components, as the MLB staf have reported, this IS NOT hot real players perceive the pitch.