Most Crucial Replay Overturns of the 2015 MLB Season
Love it or hate it, instant replay is here to stay in baseball.
Per the folks over at Baseball Savant, MLB's replay center has reviewed more than 1,200 plays through Sep. 20, with nearly half of those reviews (49.17 percent) overturning the call made on the field.
That's a lot of overturned replay calls to sift through, and it makes compiling a list such as this not only difficult, but wide open to subjectivity. Fans of a team not represented on this list can certainly find an overturned call that didn't go their team's way and say it belongs on this list. And they wouldn't necessarily be wrong.
For our purposes, I'm defining a "crucial replay overturn" as one that either began (or extended) a losing streak or one that stifled a team's momentum, bringing a lengthy winning streak to an end. Five overturned calls stand out above the rest as the most crucial of the season to date.
Let's take a look at what they are.
May 18: Diamondbacks vs. Marlins
1 of 5
The Situation
Down to the last two outs and trailing Arizona 3-2 in the bottom of the 13th inning, Ichiro Suzuki takes off from first base and is credited with successfully stealing second base, putting a runner in scoring position. Arizona manager Chip Hale challenges the safe call.
The Ruling
Ichiro is called out.
The Impact
Had Ichiro been standing on second base, perhaps Jeff Baker bunts him over to third with Dee Gordon, who was 0-for-5 on the day but hitting .406 on the year, waiting on deck. Instead, Baker struck out to end the game.
It was a missed opportunity to stop the bleeding for Miami, which had lost seven of its previous eight games and would go on to lose four more before finally besting Baltimore in extra innings on May 23.
The Marlins would finish the month 11 games under .500 (20-31), 8.5 games back in the NL East and effectively out of contention only two months into the season.
August 7: Giants vs. Cubs
2 of 5
The Situation
San Francisco trailed Chicago 6-2 heading into the top of the eighth inning but was poised to make a run after a leadoff home run by Nori Aoki and a line-drive single by Angel Pagan.
Down three with no outs and a runner on first, Giants second baseman Kelby Tomlinson hits a high chopper to second, beating the throw to first base to give San Francisco runners on first and second with nobody out and the heart of the lineup coming to the plate. Cubs manager Joe Maddon challenges the safe call.
The Ruling
Tomlinson is ruled out at first.
The Impact
San Francisco would strand Pagan at second base and ultimately lose the game 6-3. The Giants, who started the day only a half game behind the Cubs for the National League's second wild-card berth, would drop 1.5 games back in the race.
They'd proceed to lose the next two games to Chicago and effectively end their chances of clinching a wild-card berth, never getting closer than 3.5 games behind the Cubs.
August 11: Nationals vs. Dodgers
3 of 5
The Situation
Leading off the bottom of the fourth inning of a scoreless game, Los Angeles' Andre Ethier hits a shot that gets over the head of Washington center fielder Michael Taylor. Ethier heads for third base. Taylor's throw beats him to the bag, where he's ruled out. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly challenges the call.
The Ruling
Ethier is called safe at third base, having slid in under the tag.
The Impact
After Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal hits a weak fly to center, Yasiel Puig crushes a pitch from Nationals starter Joe Ross into the left-center field stands, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. It'd turn out to be all the firepower they'd need, going on to win the game 5-0.
While some will say that Washington's collapse was well underway by the time this game was played, the Nationals began the day only 1.5 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East. This loss would be the first of six straight losses for Washington, effectively taking them out of the running for the division.
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August 20: White Sox vs. Angels
4 of 5
The Situation
Leading 4-1 in the top of the fifth with runners on first and third and one out, Chicago's Jose Abreu lines a ball down the left field line off Los Angeles' Nick Tropeano that is ruled a foul ball.
The Ruling
Abreu was credited with a two-run double, scoring Carlos Sanchez from third and Tyler Saladino from first and extending Chicago's lead to 6-1.
The Impact
While the Angels were already trailing by three, Abreu's two-run double effectively put the game out of reach and set in motion a miserable end to August for the Angels. Los Angeles would proceed to lose its next three games and finish the month on a 2-9 skid, dropping 7.5 games behind Houston and under .500 (65-66).
Had the call on the field stood—or Saladino not have been awarded three bases in the process—there's no telling whether the Angels would have been able to mount a comeback.
September 20: Rangers vs. Mariners
5 of 5
The Situation
Trailing Seattle 3-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Texas looked poised to make things interesting with runners on first and second with nobody out. Will Venable would fail to make contact on a bunt attempt, and the ball got away from Mariners catcher Jesus Sucre, and Beltre beat his throw to third base.
Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon challenged the play.
The Ruling
Beltre was ruled out at third base, having popped up off the base toward the end of his slide while Kyle Seager still had the tag applied.
The Impact
The loss ended Texas' five-game winning streak and the momentum that the club had ridden to first place in the AL West.
Instead of going 3.5 games up on second place Houston, the Rangers, who wound up dropping two-of-three against the Mariners, sat with a slim 1.5-game lead over the Astros with three games left to play between the division rivals, at Houston, beginning Sep. 25.
All replay information courtesy of Baseball Savant. All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and are current through games of Sep. 20.
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