If you have watched Sportscenter on ESPN at all in the past few days, you have probably seen their report on the sate of officiating in the MLB.
They examined every major league game over a random two-week period and identified about 200+ close calls in 184 games. They found that 66% of the time the umpire was right no question about it. 20% of the time the umpire got the call wrong and the other 14% were ruled to be inconclusive with the use of replay.
That means 4 out of every 5 close calls is made correctly. But that also means that 1 of every 5 is wrong. Is that a great number? I’m sure the umpires wished it was higher.
A few calls have stood out among the rest. We all remember Jim Joyce’s call that killed Armando Gallaraga’s chance at a perfect game.
Phil Cuzzi had a blown call in the bottom of the ninth that cost the Giants a game against the Mets. We also remember Cuzzi called a ball that clearly should have been a double, foul in last years ALDS.
And Bob Davidson ruled a ball foul that looked fair on available replays that cost the Marlins a game.
Now, in the past I have wrote that I was strongly in favor of having no instant replay, but after watching a lot of games this year, and not just Yankees games, I’ve done a 180 and changed my mind on the instant replay issue.
I think it’s time for MLB to do what every other professional sports league has done already, including the friggin Little League World Series, and that is include the use of instant replay on more than just home run calls.
The games are long enough I hear you shouting through your keyboards! Well, would replay really add that much time to the game?
I mean if ESPN’s report is true for the whole season and only an average of 1.3 calls per game are close enough for replay would it take that much time to use the replay and get the call right?
The time it takes for a manager to come out, talk, yell, get ejected, then get his “money’s worth” if you will, you could have the call correctly made with replay and a few pitches could have been thrown already.
The case against replay is more outdated than VHS players. There is no reason it shouldn’t be part of the game and dozens of reasons why it should be part of the game.
I hope it doesn’t take a blown call in the World Series for Bud Selig to realize that replay is needed and it’s needed now.
