MLB Umpiring: Beyond Atrocious

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.