Accidental optical illusion leaves MLB viewers baffled over sizes of hosts

People seemed confused as Major League Baseball (MLB) presenters appeared to dramatically vary in size in an accidental optical illusion.

On Monday, Chris Vannini, a senior writer for The Athletic, took to Twitter to post a screenshot image of ESPN hosts Chris Berman, Jeff Passan, and Tim Kurkjian at the MLB Home Run Derby.

Berman (on the left) appeared to be the biggest in size, Passan was in the middle, while Kurkjian appeared to be the smallest.

“Is Chris Berman 2x the size of Jeff Passan and 4x the size of Tim Kurkjian?” Vannini captioned the post.

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Although there is a bit of difference in size - as Berman is 6’5”, Passan is 5’9”, and Kurkjian is 5’5” - the way the men were arranged on screen made the height difference look much for significant.

However, this didn’t stop people from poking fun at the scene, including jokes about how the hosts looked like Matryoshka dolls, which are Russian wooden dolls of decreasing size that are put inside one another.

“Holy s**t - it certainly looks that way Russian nesting dolls style."

“A broadcaster nesting doll,” another added.

A third joked: “This is how they shot the scenes with Gandalf and the Hobbits.”

Check out other memes and reaction to the picture below.

The Home Run Derby is a yearly home run hitting competition in MLB that is customarily held the day before the MLB All-Star Game.

Juan Soto, 23, plays for the Washington Nationals and won the 2022 MLB Home Run Derby by knocking off Seattle Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez in the finals.

This is the first Derby title for Soto, who has been at the centre of trade rumours in the most recent days.

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