Ready to play ball with the start of the 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) season?
Siri is.
The Verge reports that Apple's personal digital assistant is now equipped to answer more of our baseball questions.
"Siri - what was Babe Ruth's batting average during the 1921 season?" would be one example of the many questions you could hit Siri with.
It's perfect timing too, considering the 2016 MLB season had its first game Sunday night, with the New York Mets taking on the defending champion Kansas City Royals in a rematch of the 2015 World Series last fall. In addition to more detailed questions about current statistics, The Verge reports that Siri is also equipped with historical stats and data dating all the way back to the earliest documentation of baseball records.
And Siri doesn't stop with knowledge of the Majors, either. Siri will also be equipped to answer questions about the Minor Leagues for all you hardcore baseball fans wanting to keep abreast of the future stars on the diamond for their respective favorite teams.
While Siri has been rattling off sports scores since iOS 6 in 2012, this enhancement of baseball knowledge is priceless, especially considering the sheer length of an MLB season. Think about it - any time you have a question over the course of a 162-game season, you can now just ask Siri.
It will be interesting to see, though, how detailed Siri can get with her answers, especially regarding situational stats. For example, when we asked Siri what New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez's average is against Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price, we were hit with a couple of links to refer to, but not the direct answer.
While Apple probably needs to spend more time preparing Siri to answer all of our detailed baseball questions, just knowing we have the feature and capability to pose more questions about the diamond over the course of the season is pretty cool.
We're sure the feature will get used a lot, too, as this is just the beginning of the long six-month season.
Photo: Tom Thai | Flickr
