MLB umpiring is at a point where I literally just can’t take
watching games anymore. It’s so bad, so inconsistent, and so illogical that it’s
incredible to me that more people are not upset about it. In Monday night’s
Yankees-Twins game alone, nine pitches were called strikes that were at least 1 foot outside of the strike
zone. There is something fundamentally wrong with how we are calling balls and
strikes if a strike is called over a full foot outside of the strike zone one
time, and this case we’re talking nine times. While this was just one game, I’m
sure if you watch the MLB with any kind of consistency you’d know that this is “just
part of the game.”
That’s the problem though. This should never just be part of
the game. Not today, not in 2012. I’m sick of this argument that the umpiring
being bad is just something we should live with and is part of the “human
element” of the game. It’s a stupid argument that just doesn’t make sense. The human
element is the players competing against each other and not the freaking guy
enforcing the rules. This goes for all sports too because god knows we need
officiating in basketball, football, and baseball to undergo some major facelifts
as well.
Baseball is easily the worst in terms of officiating because its umpires affect the outcome of the games more than any other officials in any other
sport. The way things are now wouldn't one guy sitting in front of an HD TV and making the calls based on an HD replay do a better job? Why should we have to tolerate changing strike zones every night
when we could just install a system to track whether the ball went over the
plate at the right height? Why with the technology we have today should there EVER be a blown call on the base paths
or regarding a home run? I don’t understand, what exactly is the argument is
against getting the calls right as much as possible? I’m not suggesting we
literally have one guy umpire the game from a television but it’s just
unacceptable that the MLB doesn’t help its umpires get more calls correct.
Just look at how much impact the strike zone has on a
baseball game. When you’re a pitcher you’re trying to keep the ball as close to
the edges of the plate as possible so that the hitter has the worst possible
chance of making solid contact with the ball. When the edges magically change
every night so does the game. The entire premise of the game is based on the
matchup between the pitcher and the batter, so when strike zone changes from
night to night it has an enormous impact on the competitive balance of the game
overall. We’re currently allowing the area you can throw a strike in to be
essentially determined by subjective human judgment. It would be like allowing
the officials to decide how wide to make the basket every night for a
basketball game.
For umpiring the game outside of the strike zone the MLB’s
lack of ambition regarding adding a replay official is abysmal. There is no
reason in any sport that we should have to stop the game for 15 minutes to have
a guy remove himself from the field of play to go look at a TV. This is an
industry worth billions of dollars and we can’t just pay a professional umpire
to sit in front of a TV? Think about it, it would instantly solve just about
every problem umpires have on the field. If an umpire isn’t totally sure on a
call or doesn’t have a good angle he can simply buzz up to this official who
would be right 99% of the time. If a manager comes out to argue a call made on
the field, buzz up to the official. What would it take, 10 seconds? If the
manager continues to argue after the replay official was buzzed, eject him from
the game.
I understand that baseball fans are hesitant to accept replay
because they already think the game is too long, but I see no reason why these
replays can’t be almost instantaneous with a replay official. It would also cut
down on the time managers spend arguing calls because who, besides Ozzie
Guillen, would argue with the guy sitting in front of the HD TV?
These are just ideas off the cuff but they make a hell of a
lot more sense than the current system that seems to get a lot of calls wrong.
Who in the world is evaluating these MLB umpires and thinks that they’re doing
even an adequate job? The MLB’s failure to initiate anything beyond taking
forever to review home runs is just unacceptable and is making baseball tough
to watch. I want to watch the players decide the outcome of the game, not the
umpires, I don’t see why this isn’t always our priority when it comes to
regulating sports.
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