Throughout all six games, numerous ball and strikes have been miscalled, many of them maddeningly obvious. We need robots, so we can enjoy watching the players determine the outcome of the games, but at this point, I'll take malfunctioning robots over the crew MLB chose for the 2019 World Series.
Game 4
Plate umpire James Hoye calls Strike 3 on Pitch #8 to Astros leadoff batter George Springer.
Game 5
Plate umpire Lance Barksdale calls Strike 3 on Pitch #8 to Astros leadoff batter George Springer.
Game 6
Umpire Jim Wolf calls Nationals leadoff batter Trea Turner out at first base. After the Nationals ask for a review, the call is reversed.
Wolf will be behind the plate for Game 7.
Can the men in blue make it four games in a row?
It seems umpires are unaccountable, and never get canned for bad performance. I only listen to baseball on radio, and most of the names I hear are ones I have been hearing since 2003.
ReplyDeleteLike the police unions protecting bad cops and the umpires union seem to be good at the protecting bad umpires. The crazy umpire calling for 'cival war" is probably not an outlier. at being a trumpist . Just like cops. Same structure protecting bad performance, same calls for war, same demographic.
A terrible fuck-up of an important game will have to happen (at least once) for the necessary changes to be made. The replay system that exists was long overdue and could be streamlined (whether MLB truly wants that is up for debate), but it is not enough. The most important part of the game - balls and strikes - needs to be fixed and that's the one area that, so far, is off limits.
ReplyDeleteI wish the ever-growing number of players who are vocal in the press about bad umps would get on board and support robots, but nowhere near all of them do.