MLB Umpire CB Bucknor absolutely butchers the strike zone in Rockies-A’s game, racks up 15 missed ball/strike calls and missed 4 K’s

Another day, another CB Bucknor Special behind the plate. If you tuned into Sunday’s Rockies-A’s game hoping for a fair fight, you got a 12-5 Colorado win… and a masterclass in strike zone confusion from one of MLB’s most infamous umpires.

Bucknor might not be as infamous as Angel Hernandez, but he’s definitely been one of the worst umpires behind the plate for ages. Last season, only one ump was worse than him and he’s already off to another rough start in 2025.

According to the Umpire Auditor, Bucknor racked up 15 missed ball/strike calls during the game. Eleven of them went against the Rockies. And if that wasn’t enough chaos, four of those blown calls came on strikeout pitches. That’s not bad — that’s brutal.

A CB Bucknor Disaster-Class

Umpire CB Bucknor blew 15 calls including 4 strikeouts in the Rockies Athletics game. Of the 15 bad calls, 11 went against the Rockies.

Bucknor leads the league in blown strikeouts. pic.twitter.com/TOiVM8yx6l

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) April 7, 2025

The most egregious part? The strike zone seemed to magically expand whenever a strikeout was on the table. You’d think Bucknor was getting paid by the pitch, or maybe trying to hit some sort of absurd improv zone challenge.

And look, we’re not new to the CB Bucknor experience. He’s had his share of notorious moments. But calling only 80% of strikes correctly in a game when the league average is 88%? That’s not just an off day — that’s a full-blown umpire meltdown.

MLB can’t pretend these things don’t matter.

Umpire: CB Bucknor
Final: Athletics 5, Rockies 12#Athletics // #Rockies#ATHvsCOL // #COLvsATH

More stats for this ump 👇https://t.co/PGUmmEkJwo pic.twitter.com/nKwQZuTG9Z

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) April 7, 2025

I mean holy hell, at that point, just flip a coin on the close pitches and pray for the best. That would be more consistent than whatever CB Bucknor was doing behind home plate during this one. I don’t really understand how you can be so bad at your job, year after year, and still have one but it’s pretty evident that CB Bucknor knows where Rob Manfred hides the dead bodies.

We’re not talking about a few borderline calls — we’re talking about four blown strikeouts, missed momentum-shifters, and a zone that changed pitch to pitch like a slot machine. Robo-umps might not be the full answer, but watching CB Bucknor work the plate sure makes the case a lot stronger.

Can @mlb investigate CB Bucknor and how he’s still an umpire? His zone is 1.5 size the actual zone and it’s inconsistent. Legit flip a coin

— Breaking Simulation (@breakingsim) April 6, 2025

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