Umpire Odds & Ends: Ejections on Par with 2011 Pace

Update: With the month of May in the books, 763 games have been played in all thus far for the season, 425 games in May, and 142 games since first looking into our season's ejection pace on the 21st of May.

The Ejection Rate is as follows (As of the end of play on May 31):
Season: 1 in 13.87 games (7.21%) compared to 6.6% for April and the first 21 days of May.
May: 1 in 10.65 games (9.41%)
Since May 21: 1 in 10.14 games (9.86%) compared to a 9.19% rate for the first 21 days of May.

MLB Ejections on Par with 2011 Pace: At the conclusion of Sunday's games, Major League Baseball has seen 621 regular season games played. On Sunday, Hunter Wendelstedt ejected Tim Dillard of the Milwaukee Brewers for the 41st ejection of the season. With Wendelstedt's ejection, 2012 has featured one ejection per 15.15 games or an ejection in 6.60% of all games played to date.

MLB Umpire Ejection Rates, April-May, 2011 & 2012

Last season, Major League Baseball saw its 620th game played at the conclusion of play on May 17, 2011. That day saw the 40th ejection of the season, with Jerry Meals tossing Seattle Mariners Manager Eric Wedge. The 41st ejection of the 2011 season occurred the very next day. The ejection rate after the 620th game of last season was 1 per 15.5 games or an ejection in 6.45% of games played to date.

The ejection pace between April and May (so far) this season has been significantly different, with a greater ejection rate in May. With 338 games played in April, there were 15 ejections, or an ejection once every 22.53 games or 4.44% of all games. However, May has seen 283 games played thus far and 26 ejections. To this point in May, there has been an ejection once every 10.88 games or 9.19% of all games, or a 107% increase in ejections from April-to-May 2012. In April of last year, 381 games were played with 21 ejections occurring (1 in 18.14 games or 5.15%). In May of last year, 431 games were played in all with 38 ejections occurring in all (1 in 11.34 games or 8.17%), just a 59% increase in ejection from April-to-May 2011.

Do you believe the ejection pace will continue at its current rate for May? Will we continue to see a similar pace to last year or do you think things may be starting to heat up between players, managers and umpires with ejections like that of Brett Lawrie and Charlie Manuel?