Open Mic: It's the Umpire's Game

Baseball is unlike any other sport on the planet.

And while entire libraries can be filled with books about the exploits of some of America's great sports legends, heroes, and hall-of-famers, the dirty little secret about our national past-time is that every game is the product of the umpires' decisions and interpretations of the rules.

Every game would be different if there were a different umpire behind the plate, or on the bases. No game would have the exact same outcome, and no player, team, or coach can overcome this fact.

Unlike football, basketball, hockey, or even soccer, baseball umpires are not allowed to impose any penalties on a player except total ejection from the game.

There are no whistles, or calls of holding, charging, or off-sides in baseball. The game is determined by 200 or more decisions made by the plate umpire, as well as several dozen more made by the base umpires each game.

Every pitch can become a turning point in the game, and it's the umpire's call that can change a game quicker than a three-run homer or a 6-4-3 double play.

Think about it. Your clean-up hitter strides to the plate with the game on the line in the bottom of the seventh inning. There are runners on first and second.

Here's the windup and the pitch. The pitch is about two inches off the black. The opposing pitcher has been consistently hitting that spot all game long. The plate umpire calls it a strike. Your batter doesn't like the call, but says nothing. 0-1.

Yesterday, same situation, but with a different umpire behind the plate, a different pitcher, a different situation, that pitch may have been a ball. Yesterday the count would have been 1-0.

Today's umpire calls the next pitch a strike. It's right down the middle of the plate, and right at the belt. Yesterday's umpire could have called it a ball; determining that it was high and out of the strike zone. But instead of being 1-1, it's now 0-2.

The next pitch is low and outside the strike zone. Both umpires would have to say that's a ball, without question. Now, the count is 1-2. But yesterday in the exact same situation, it could have been 2-1 which makes the pitcher, the defense, the batter, and the runners approach the next pitch differently.

Yesterday, the manager of the team at bat would be thinking hit-and-run, or a double steal. Today, they wouldn't have considered that option with that count.

This is just one example of how the game of baseball is controlled by the umpires a lot more than most people think.

Every game has hundreds of opportunities for it to turn on a dime. There are hundreds of decisions that could go either way, all made by a human being interpreting the situation, their perception, and the rules differently.

Every game is a product not so much of the actions of the players, but the decisions of the umpire.