Baseball umpire's mistakes are magnified during the playoffs
Let’s face it, there are times when an umpire just can’t get into the right position to see the play or they just miss a call. I’m not bagging on the umpires, they’re only human…mistakes will be made. It’s time for MLB to use the technology available to ensure the integrity of the game.
One must admit it’s impossible to simultaneously watch an outfielder field a fly ball and see whether the runner’s foot leaves the bag early. You can see the runner’s movement but not whether the foot lifted of the bag at the exact same moment the ball was caught. But on replay there’s no doubt ,or if there is inconclusive evidence you can always go with the umpire’s call like they do in football. This has been going on for over a hundred years and it’s time to get it right.
In this year’s playoffs alone we’ve seen Joe Mauer’s double ruled a single, runners clearly out on plays at first and attempted steals that were ruled safe, runners ruled out for leaving the base too soon that did not leave the base early and Angels catcher Mike Napoli clearly tag out both Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano at third only to have Cano called safe. These are all perfect examples of blown calls that have cost teams runs in the playoffs. There’s too much at stake in the playoffs to not do everything in your power to guarantee the right teams win in the playoffs.
Football has expanded it’s replay rules and few would argue with the validity of the system they now have in place. Yet, baseball for whatever reason has resisted the urge to use replay for plays in the field. There’s plenty of downtime in between pitches and at bats to review plays so I don’t buy the “it will slow down the game” argument. Besides baseball is a slow game to begin with.
Players and fans have a hard time swallowing a loss when things happen that are outside of their control. This is clearly a problem that technology could remedy if only MLB would admit the system is flawed. Leaving the umpires in place and continuing to call the game as they currently do should satisfy the umpire’s union and who really cares if they are on board or not. The only reason they would oppose replay are to avoid embarrassment which is a purely selfish reason.
Whether we use technology to eventually call balls and strikes will soon be debated as well. The technology to track balls in motion through a strike zone must be proven reliable before I get on board with it. Yet, from what I’ve seen of the technology in action I’m convinced that even now it’s more accurate than the home plate umpire. Baseball fans are coming to the conclusion that it’s past time for our pastime to expand the use of replay.
