Umpire Pat Hoberg called perfect game in World Series

Sep 26, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Home plate umpire Pat Hoberg (31) gestures during the fifth inning of the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Game 2 of the World Series featured a rare feat in the form of a perfect game. No, not from a pitcher, but from home plate umpire Pat Hoberg.

According to data tabulated by Umpire Scorecards, Hoberg galled a perfect game in Game 2, getting all 129 called balls and strikes correctly. In other words, every call he made matched the one backed by MLB pitch-by-pitch data.

🚨PERFECT GAME🚨
Umpire: Pat Hoberg
Final: Phillies 2, Astros 5#RingTheBell // #LevelUp #PHIvsHOU // #HOUvsPHI #Postseason

More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/Ic52HanqPA pic.twitter.com/ZfTCNpLU5y

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) October 30, 2022

These are not common during the regular season, much less the playoffs. Hoberg was rated as the most accurate umpire over the course of the regular season, but the league probably wasn’t counting on perfection.

Umpires usually make it into headlines for all the wrong reasons, so Hoberg deserves a ton of credit here. He got everything right and left neither team with any reason to complain about the strike zone. The World Series as a whole has been called very well by the umpiring crew, and they deserve a lot of credit for their work so far.