Open-Mic: Time For Replay In Major League Baseball

Picture your favorite team down 1-0 in the ninth inning of game seven in the World Series.

Your slugger is coming up to the plate to face a Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, who to this point has put up a complete shut out. There is one man on base with two outs.

Your slugger cranks a fat pitch down the left field line. It’s fair. It’s foul. It’s fair. It’s foul. It’s…up for discussion?

The four umpires gather to discuss what they saw.

“You had the best angle. What do you think?” One umpire asks another.

While they’re chatting, you’re at home watching replay after replay and they all indicate your slugger just pulled off one of the most remarkable, clutch home runs in baseball history. You scream at the television.

Finally, the umpires break and the head umpire gives a signal indicating the ball went foul. The home crowd boos and hisses wildly as your manager trots out to home plate to voice his concerns with no regard to his vocal chords.

He gets tossed, and on the next pitch your slugger whiffs and your team has lost in one of the most exciting and angering finishes of all time.

The next day, after intense criticism, the umpires release a statement saying they made a mistake and it’s in the past. There’s nothing they can do.

There’s nothing you can do? It’s the World Series! And if you’re a Cubs fan like myself, winning a World Series could literally be something you only get to see once in a lifetime or two.

While this scenario is unlikely, it is entirely possible. If something like that would happen, it would be the end of baseball as we know it.

Think of the consequences. Major League Baseball is an organization already riddled with steroid scandals. Parents are asking themselves if baseball players like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens are the kinds of people their kids should be looking up as heroes.

Imagine if the officials couldn’t call something as simple, yet as crucial, as a game-winning home run correctly.

People who are occasional spectators would watch even less. I personally would feel as if Major League Baseball didn’t care enough to take the time to make sure its calls are accurate. Attendance would decrease and so would the number of viewers who tune in.

While many people think baseball games last long enough and Major League Baseball has placed a ton of emphasis on speeding the games up, baseball games last no longer than football games do normally.

More importantly than that, taking the time to review plays has proven itself necessary recently.

This week alone there have been three instances where umpires made the wrong call on home runs, and it’s really hurting the credibility of baseball. It’s time for replay.

Major League Baseball announced its intention to experiment with replay in the Arizona Fall League this year, according to ESPN. However, they have yet to announce what their experiment will consist of.

The National Football League’s system for review works very well. Each coach has an opportunity to review two plays each half, with the booth having the go-ahead to review either when a team is out of review opportunities or when the clock reaches under two minutes.

Major League Baseball should model its system after the NFL’s.

One review per team in a game is sufficient and wouldn’t slow the game down too much. Teams should be able to review whatever play, other than balls and strikes, they feel necessary.

These could be questionable home runs, close base running decisions, and whether a ball hit to the outfield was caught or trapped.

A review booth, similar to the one in the NFL, should also be able to deem a play reviewable if they feel it is necessary.

ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian said Thursday night he would not be in favor of instant replay unless it was used only to determine home runs, fair or foul. He cited the human element being a part of baseball as one of his arguments.

The human element was part of the NFL before Roger Goodell and company determined fairness and accuracy is much more important than the nostalgia of the human element.

The NFL got it right, and now it’s time for baseball to step up and follow suit.