Are robo-referees making sports more fair or less fun?

On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti

WBUR

Talk Show, Daily News, News, Npr, On Point, Daily

4.2 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Major League Baseball will add an automated ball-strike system next season. How human judgement is giving way to technology across the sports world, and what that means for players, umpires and fans.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for WBUR comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
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0:13.6	Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:16.3	Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Mayrotra Institute at B.U. Questrum School of
0:23.4	Business that asks the thorny questions necessary for this moment. Follow Is Business Broken and stay
0:29.7	tuned for new episodes this fall. WBUR Podcasts. Boston.
0:46.0	Every baseball fan has been there before.
0:47.7	It's a pivotal moment in the game.
0:49.1	The score is deadlocked.
0:50.9	Maybe your favorite player is at the plate or your favorite pitcher is on the mound.
0:52.9	And what happens at bat could determine the outcome of the game.
0:55.9	There's the wind up, the pitch, and...
0:58.7	And Ward takes strike three on a pitch that look low.
1:03.3	That's not even close to a strike.
1:05.0	That's not even close to a strike.
1:08.1	Whoa.
1:08.6	Where?
1:08.8	He said her cut right down the middle. You call that a ball?
1:11.6	Yeah.
1:12.6	Look where this.
1:14.6	Can't miss that one.
1:16.6	You're in a game like this.
	...

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