Two more blown calls, this occurring last night in Game 2 of the World Series.
Bud Selig has been adamant about the fact that the current iteration of reply will be the only iteration until the day he dies.
After this abominable playoffs sure to go down in history as the sports postseason affected by umpires the most — and consistently — it’s clear that something has got to change.
Is part of the hesitation of moving to a more advanced replay system due to not wanting to “copy” the NFL? I can’t think of any other logical reason why you wouldn’t put in place a system to get the calls right… and I think the umpires are more concerned with getting the calls right than having a blown call dictate a game — and having to uphold the blown call.
It’s not the NFL’s fault they got it right. It’s time for baseball to join in and have real replay — not this fair/foul home run compromise BS. Fair/foul, caught/not caught, on/off the bag… have everything be reviewable except for ball/strike calls or check swings.
Umpires are able to decide when to go to instant replay an unlimited number of times should they choose to do so. If they huddle and decide not to go to instant replay, baseball managers have one challenge available to them. If the call is upheld, the penalty for the manager is being unable to visit the mound without being forced to remove the player for the remainder of the game.
Or something.
Whatever.
Something, so we can move on and make this game the best it can be.
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i remember seeing one of the ESPN analysts making a very good point, a great one actually – that is – to have an Ump up in the booth with the monitors/TVs, etc and let him have a mic directly to the home plate ump. Let him call down to the field and tell them to review it together but let the “monitor” ump tell them what he saw on replay. no harm no foul…there can and should be a called decision at the moment of the play and similar rules would make sense like the NFL.. needing enough evidence to overturn a field call, which the monitor ump could very easily “suggest” to the guys on field. i do not see how this would take any more time at all, in fact, it would save the time it takes to throw out a red flag, etc… as the upstairs ump could intervene seamlessly. big screen ballparks can show the replay just as well as we get it on TV.
I agree with everything you said except… why not subject balls/strikes and checked swings to replay as well? I have seen more than one player rung up on a ball 18 inches outside the zone, and vice-versa.
And there's the slippery slope. Many were outraged at the HR/NoHR replay cameras, as it was feared this would lead to Balls/Strikes calls. Just a year away and you are calling for it. But this is not suprising. AJ consistently got strikes which were clearly balls, and verified by the TV replay when they showed or (or refused to show it because they were trying to stay neutral). This led to striking out the Phillies top hitters looking and, later in the game making them swing at balls for fear of a called third strike. Pedro got those outside and low painted strikes called as balls. the did not "even out". For the very first time I said to myself the calls of a home plate ump need to be verified. Bad umps who favor one pitcher over an other (for whatever astigmatic reason) need to be over-ruled, as they have profound influence on who wins the game.
A replay system with an official in a booth, whose sole responsibility is checking calls, would not significantly add to the length of games — indeed, it might actually shorten them, by reducing the need for umpire-crew colloquiums and managers' arguments. Another possibility is a central, league-wide replay system as in the NHL, where all goals are reviewed in a video room in Toronto.
This kind of system would allow for replay on safe/out and fair/foul calls. But I don't see how replay could extend as far as balls and strikes. The only thing I can suggest for home-plate umpiring is rigorous review of umps' performance. I know MLB has tightened this up in recent years, but you'd think they could achieve a more uniform standard by grading umpires on balls and strikes, downgrading those with erratic strike zones, and retraining them to adhere more closely to a standard. Every time I hear an announcer say that a particular umpire is pitcher-friendly or hitter-friendly, or has his own vision of the inside or outside corner, it makes me wonder why the hell MLB puts up with that.
This will not happen because it will not allow the Commissioner's office to influence the course of games and series. Who really believes that the Commissioner does not want certain teams to advance due to the marketing bonanza said teams would bring? This isn't to say that the Commissioner has the power to simply decide who will win a game but that certain umps could be "company men", predisposed to follow the Commissioner's advice or predilections, a la Tim Donaghy's revelations about the NBA.