In Game One of the ALDS series between the Red Sox and the Angels, umpire C.B. Bucknor blew two calls at first base, calling Howie Kendrick safe when he was obviously out. On both plays, the replays showed that Kendrick was out. The call was not reviewed, nor was it overturned.
In the top of the 11th inning of Game Two of the ALDS series between Minnesota and New York, Joe Mauer hit a fly ball that struck the leftfielder’s glove and then landed in fair territory, before bounced into the stands. The line umpire, Phil Cuzzi, called the ball foul. Mauer singled, advanced to second on a single, advance to third on a single, and was thrown out at the plate on a grounder. In the bottom of the eleventh, Mark Teixeira hit a walk-off homerun to give the Yankees a victory.
In Game Three of the NLDS series between the Phillies and the Rockies, Chase Utley hit a slow grounder to Rockies closer Huston Street, who threw high to first base. Replays showed that a) that ball, after being hit by Utley, struck his leg while he was in the batter’s box, and b) first baseman Todd Helton’s foot touched first before Utley reached the bag. One play, two erroneous calls. The ‘single’ moved Jimmy Rollins to third, and he scored the game-winning run on Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly.
We cannot know exactly how the games would have changed had the correct calls been made. What we do know it that the blown calls went against the teams that lost those games.
I want to leave aside any questions about the quality of the umpires selected to call these postseason contests. I think it is pertinent, for instance, that C.B. Bucknor has twice been voted on as the worst umpire in baseball, but I don’t want that fact to obscure the larger issues that bear discussion. The reality is even the best umpires will miss calls. What I’d like to discuss is what should be done about bad calls.
Five Points
I think most of us can agree that teams shouldn’t lose games based on umpiring mistakes.
I think most of us can agree that it is particularly important that teams don’t lose playoff games based on umpiring mistakes. Costing a team a game is less significant when it occurs during a 162-game season than when it occurs in a five-game elimination series.
I think most of us can agree that umpiring should never be the dominant narrative of a postseason. The defining story of 2009 Division Series wasn’t Joe Mauer, or Albert Pujols. It wasn’t the postseason heroics of Alex Rodriguez, or even the woeful performance by some of the game’s elite closers. The defining story was the bad umpiring calls. This isn’t right: umpires should not be the story. It’s not entertaining. It’s distracting and frustrating.
Building on that: I think most of us understand that when umpiring becomes the story, the fundamental nature of what we are watching changes. When the events of the game are not correctly called, the contest loses its legitimacy. The outcomes are called into question. Would the Phillies have won their series without the blown call in Game 3? Would Joe Mauer have scored had he been awarded second base?
Finally I think most of us can agree that getting the calls right is more important than delaying the pace of the game. Whenever debates about instant replay are bandied about, someone gripes about how long it’ll take to get the calls right. But most of us, I presume, would rather endure a five-minute delay than have our teams lose playoff games because of erroneous calls.
The Problem of Accountability
You’ve all heard the expression ‘who polices the police?’ bandied about at one time or another, and I trust that you get its intended meaning.
To my mind, the biggest problem with umpiring in baseball is the lack of transparent checks to umpire discretion. To be frank, I think umpires in baseball have gotten punch-drunk on the power of their position, a truth illustrated by their frequent lobbying against technologies like Questec, and instant replay.
Do you realize, for instance, how absurd the limitations on what can be reviewed are? None of the plays mentioned above could have been reviewed. The umpires couldn’t ask to have Mauer’s hit reviewed, or Utley’s hit, because they weren’t homerun calls. The only play that could have been reviewed was Teixeira’s walk-off homerun in Game 1.
And when MLB umpires agreed to instant replay on homeruns, they demanded that they should be the people who decide whether or not a call should be reviewed. You can see how this is a fundamentally flawed process: to allow umpires to dictate whether or not their own decisions will be reviewed is ridiculous. There is an obvious conflict of interest in allowing umpires to decide what plays to review: umpires work in teams, and it is awkward to second-guess a teammate’s judgment. It doesn’t bode well for unity and team spirit, I suppose.
I’ve gone on long enough: here’s the easy solution:
1) Give managers the right to demand a review.
2) Expand what can be reviewed.
3) Insure that an independent third party continues to make the calls on reviewed plays (as is the case right now).
That’s it. It’s mind-bogglingly easy. We can argue about the structure of those changes, but those are the changes that should be made. Personally, I’d give managers two ‘challenge flags’ each playoff game. If a challenge is used and the call is overturned, the manager keeps the flag. As to what can be reviewed: I’d argue that any play that results in an at-bat ending should be reviewable. Managers can’t argue all balls and strikes, but (I’d argue), they should have the right to argue a missed third strike, or a ball-four. At least in the postseason.
Look: I don’t blame the umpires for missing calls. It happens.
Where I have a problem is their reluctance to do anything about those missed calls. Most umpires don’t even acknowledge bad calls, and all umpires seem hell-bent on holding on to their positions as the last and final arbitrators of games.
That worked, in the 1900’s. It worked because it had to. But we have technology that makes bad calls obvious, and we have technology that can insure the right calls are made. It would be silly not to use it.
Quick Aside: TBS Stats
Just a quick aside here: I’ve been rambling in a contentious sort of way for long enough, and I wanted to take a minute to speak to something positive from the Division Series.
During the second game of the Angels/Red Sox series, Buck Martinez said, “No team goes from first-to-third on a single more than the Angels.” About a minute later, a graphic popped up stating that the Angels had gone from first-to-third on a single 114 during the regular season, the best mark in the majors.
When I heard Martinez mention the stat, I expected that Martinez was talking apocryphally; that he was saying something that seemed true, but might not be. I was wrong: he was stating a fact, and the producers at TBS backed up the statement with a graphic that explained the comment further.
You know where I’m going with this: during most baseball broadcasts, you can count on a color commentator saying about a half-a-dozen ‘facts’ that are not supported by evidence. Someone will say something like, “The Red Sox bullpen has been rocky all year” or “Vladimir Guerrero is the key to the Angels offense,” and you’ll spend ten minutes ranting to your wife about what that’s demonstrably false. A Sunday Night game on ESPN will give you a coronary if you listen long enough.
Anyway, it wasn’t the case with the TBS guys: they had facts, and they were intelligent about what was happening. It was nice to see.
Dave Fleming is a writer living in Iowa City, IA. He welcomes comments, questions, and 101 mile-an-hour fastballs from Daniel Bard here and at dfleming1986@yahoo.com.