Yankees fans were justifiably furious with umpire Ed Hickox's dreadful day behind the plate

If you needed any indication as to why Major League Baseball is testing an automated strike zone in the minor leagues, just check out what happened during Sunday’s game between the Yankees and Cardinals.

Ed Hickox has worked as an umpire in MLB since 1990. And despite his 32 years of experience, he’s among the worst umpires behind the plate in the entire league. Earlier this season, he called a ball on a pitch that was right down the middle.

That was terrible, sure, but situationally, you won’t see many worse calls than his full-count strikeout call on Marwin Gonzalez with the bases loaded on Sunday. If that wasn’t bad enough — he had 20 missed calls through six innings.

The ball, which was four inches off the plate, robbed the Yankees of a run in the game. And Hickox’s struggles weren’t limited to the strike zone either. He incorrectly called Paul DeJong out at home plate despite having a solid view of the play. The Cardinals had to use a challenge to get that run back.

While it’s not an easy job to work behind the plate as a big-league umpire, the lack of accountability for umpires remains a huge problem in baseball. Umpires know they can have a bad game and be back out there the next day with no repercussions. And few umpires have made a career out of that philosophy more than Hickox.

You can’t blame Yankees fans for being upset.