John Bacon
With John Bacon behind the plate, MLB games average 8.23 total runs versus a league average of 9.02. That is a run factor of 0.95, #74 of 96 umpires for scoring, making him a slightly pitcher-friendly umpire.
A strikeout factor of 0.97 (-3%) reflects how wide or tight John Bacon calls the zone. A wider zone means more called strikes, more strikeouts, and fewer baserunners, which is why umpire run and strikeout factors usually move together. The home team wins 56.0% of his games, close to the league's modest home rate.
From 84 games with John Bacon as home-plate umpire, rebuilt nightly. Factors are normalized so 1.00 equals the league-average umpire. A single umpire is a small slice of the season, so read the extremes as tendencies, not certainties. Descriptive, not a prediction.
Last recomputed August 23, 2026.