Tag: Bad umps

The umpire who had the Phillies livid on Sunday actually had an amazing game behind the plate

His best performance of the season.

If all you saw were two video clips from Sunday’s game between the Twins and Phillies, it would have been easy to assume that home plate umpire Alex MacKay had a terrible afternoon behind the plate.

Those clips didn’t tell the whole story because MacKay actually had his best game of the entire season.

The controversy came in the seventh inning when Mackay ruled that a would-be, bases-loaded walk was an inning-ending strikeout. He rung up Alec Bohm, who furiously spiked his bat, and Bohm was quickly ejected for the theatrics. The following inning, a borderline call on Bryce Harper had the Phillies star arguing with MacKay. Phillies manager Rob Thomson came out and was ejected.

Again, that all looked terrible. And given how upset the Phillies were, it would have been safe to guess that MacKay was in for a rough scorecard come Monday. About that …

According to Umpire Scorecards, MacKay called 98 percent of taken pitches correctly. The missed call on Bohm was impactful (accounted for 1.57 runs almost by itself), but it was just one of three missed calls he had for the entire afternoon — 141 of 144 pitches were called accurately. And the third strike that Harper took issue with? It would have been a strike even with robot umps by catching the smallest sliver of the zone.

Out of the 13 games MacKay has worked behind the plate this season, Sunday was his best performance and only the second time he’s had fewer than five incorrect calls in a game.

It’s wild how that works. MLB fans were certainly surprised.

Angel Hernandez’s missed call led to a home run in his first game back behind the plate

He’s back like he never left.

Longtime MLB umpire Angel Hernandez has been absent for nearly the entire season thus far after dealing with a medical matter. He made his return to big-league action this past weekend, and on Wednesday, he was back behind the plate for the first time in 2023.

It didn’t take long for a missed call to make an impact.

Now, until MLB institutes an automated strike zone (robot umps), you’re almost never going to see an umpire go an entire game without missing a call. It’s only happened once since Ump Scorecards started tracking performance. But Hernandez has a knack for impacting games with his missed calls.

With MacKenzie Gore on the mound for the Nationals, he should have gotten ahead in the count when his 1-1 pitch in the strike zone was called a ball by Hernandez. There’s a huge difference between a 2-1 count and a 1-2 count from a pitcher’s perspective, and Gore paid that price on the very next pitch. He left a 2-1 fastball up high in the zone, which Tyrone Taylor drove for a 396-foot home run.

Again, Hernandez was never going to be perfect in the game, but a missed call in that spot had to be frustrating for Gore and the Nationals.

Fans certainly didn’t have any problem piling on Hernandez for the missed call.

Twins pitcher Bailey Ober was allowed to stay in game despite evidently getting caught with sticky substances

Umpires are just making up rules now.

MLB’s crackdown on pitchers using sticky substances is supposed to be simple. Pitchers are checked randomly throughout the game, and if they are caught with sticky substances, they’re supposed to get ejected right there on the spot.

Umpires haven’t exactly been enforcing the rule as designed, though. We saw that on Thursday.

Twins pitcher Bailey Ober was dealing through three innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was so dominant, in fact, that he struck out six consecutive batters in the second and third innings. But before the fourth inning, umpire C.B. Bucknor didn’t seem satisfied with what he found during a substance check.

Again, MLB rules call for the pitcher to get ejected and serve a 10-game suspension for sticky substances. But for whatever reason, Ober was given the opportunity to wash his hands and continue in the game. It’s unclear why umpires are allowing this second chance unless they’re simply trying to avoid the inevitable confrontation that comes with ejecting a pitcher. If the substance doesn’t reach an ejection-worthy level, then the pitcher should be allowed to go to the mound. There shouldn’t be a middle ground.

You may remember that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was furious back in April when Yankees pitcher Domingo GermĂĄn was given a similar exception. But he didn’t seem to have an issue with Ober being allowed to wash his hands there.

When Ober returned to the game, he allowed three runs in that fourth inning. While his spin rate was unchanged from the earlier innings, there was a decent drop in velocity. His fastball topped off at 91.6 mph after the substance check and exceeded 93 mph before it.

Fans still had plenty of thoughts about that scene between innings.

The Padres’ Jake Cronenworth couldn’t believe it after umpire Ryan Wills blocked him from second base

The ump seriously blamed Cronenworth …

The San Diego Padres have been one of the biggest disappointments so far this season. But even when it isn’t their fault, the game finds a way to go against the Padres.

During the third inning of Sunday’s game against the Cubs — with the Padres already down six runs — Dansby Swanson seemingly had to make a tough play and retire Jake Cronenworth at second base to end the inning. But the play ended up being way easier for the Cubs shortstop than he probably anticipated.

That was because he got an assist from second base umpire Ryan Wills in the process.

As Cronenworth made his way to second, Wills appeared to be standing right in the base path, essentially blocking Cronenworth from reaching the bag before the inning-ending throw.

The play itself likely wasn’t going to change the game. After all, the Padres were already down big, and Swanson possibly would have gotten Ha-Seong Kim out at first if he threw there instead. Yet, Wills’ poor positioning and subsequent reaction had to be frustrating for the Padres. Wills gestured and spoke to Cronenworth as if it was the baserunner’s fault for running into the umpire. Wills was the one in the way.

Cronenworth could only stand there in disbelief as the inning came to a close. There’s no reason for an umpire to get set up inside the base path.

Max Muncy said that the Cardinals ‘bullied’ umpires into making bad calls all weekend

Muncy was ejected on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are set for a road series against the first-place Atlanta Braves this week, and it’s pretty clear that they were thrilled to get away from the umpiring crew in St. Louis.

The Dodgers dropped three of four games against the struggling Cardinals, and much of the on-field frustration had to do with how the umpires were making calls. In Saturday’s game, the Dodgers saw their chances in the ninth inning end on a missed strikeout call. On Sunday, Max Muncy was ejected after he complained about inconsistent calls and pointed his bat towards the third-base umpire Paul Emmel (who missed the aforementioned call on Saturday night).

Though the strikeout call on Muncy was correctly called a strike, an earlier pitch in a similar spot was called a ball. He explained that he was especially upset when catcher Willson Contreras complained about a call and then got a call in his favor. Typically, umpires don’t expand their zone when a catcher complains, but Muncy felt that the umpiring crew buckled to the Cardinals catcher all series.

He said:

“I think it was a weekend-long frustration that was building up. For me, it wasn’t about the call. These guys are human. They’re going to call the games how they see it. And to me, that’s a beautiful thing about this game. For me, it was how the calls were happening. The pitch before was almost the exact same location, and whether it’s a ball or strike — I don’t care. He called it how he saw it. He called it a ball. And for the catcher to sit there and tell him that’s a terrible call and he missed and he needs to be better. And then the next one, he gives it to him. That to me was where the frustration was coming from. It felt like that was happening all weekend long. I felt like they were getting bullied, and they gave in to it.”

The Dodgers ended up losing the game, 10-5. According to Umpire Scorecards, home plate umpire Nic Lentz had a decent day behind the plate with a 95 percent accuracy. But Muncy had seen enough.

Mookie Betts was understandably in disbelief when a blown call ended the Dodgers’ rally

A game ended on THIS.

Major League umpires are almost never perfect. But when the game is on the line, you never want to see a missed call.

That’s what made Saturday’s 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals so disappointing for the Dodgers.

After going down three runs in the eighth inning, the Dodgers chipped away at the lead to have Mookie Betts at the plate with two outs in the ninth and a runner on second down a run. Betts worked the count full against Giovanny Gallegos. And with Freddie Freeman on deck, the Dodgers had to like the possible lefty-righty matchup to tie or take the lead.

Now, hitters are often told to swing if it’s close, but Betts was right to take a 3-2 pitch off the plate. The problem: Paul Emmel saw it differently.

The pitch was a few inches off the plate, but the excellent frame from Willson Contreras — who is now allowed to play catcher again — made the difference.

Still, you’d expect Emmel to make the correct call there, especially since Emmel was having a solid night. Betts and the Dodgers dugout couldn’t believe *that* was how the game ended.

Fans had plenty of thoughts on the call too.

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Umpires oddly made Rays pitcher Zach Eflin remove his wedding ring and fans were so confused

It was on his glove hand …

As we’ve seen in recent years, Major League Baseball is cracking down on pitchers using sticky substances. The umpiring crews routinely check pitchers during the game, and everyone knows what to expect at this point.

But Thursday’s game had to be a strange conversation for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Zach Eflin. He was told to remove his wedding ring for some reason.

Eflin was dominant in his first seven innings against the Pirates. And ahead of the second inning, umpire Adrian Johnson had a discussion with Eflin and had him remove a rubber wedding ring from his left hand before he could continue pitching.

Now, a wedding ring — particularly a rubber or silicone one — isn’t going to impact a right-handed pitcher’s performance. The ring was on Eflin’s glove hand, and it wasn’t like he was removing his glove between pitches.

Eflin complied with Johnson’s request without much of an argument at all. But fans were justifiably confused about why the umpires wanted a ring removed from the pitcher’s glove hand.

Update: Eflin said after the game that the umpires would have ejected him if he didn’t take the ring off.

Mics picked up Jeff McNeil’s furious NSFW reaction to umpire Adam Beck’s awful strikeout call

McNeil was right to be angry!

When it comes to accuracy, umpire Adam Beck is slightly below average compared to his peers. Yet, the past week certainly hasn’t been Beck’s best showing behind the plate.

You may remember Beck from the Brewers-Angels fiasco that led to Craig Counsell and Willy Adames getting ejected after Beck weaponized the pitch clock in a spiteful way.

Well, Beck was back behind the plate for Thursday’s game between the Mets and Tigers. And this time, he had Jeff McNeil so upset that the SNY broadcast clearly picked up the Mets infielder cursing at Beck in disbelief after a low strikeout call. (Warning: Video contains NSFW language)

I mean, you can’t really blame McNeil for being angry there.

Just how he took Adames’ reaction personally, Beck appeared to make the strikeout call upon noticing that McNeil quickly moved to take first base on a walk. Some umpires hate when players don’t wait for the call, but really, the priority should be to get the call correct.

Beck missed badly there.

Fans also had thoughts on McNeil’s fiery outburst.

The Brewers’ Willy Adames got ejected after a blatantly spiteful sequence from umpire Adam Beck

The Ump Show doesn’t get much worse than that.

MLB’s new rules are designed to speed up the game, but sometimes, umpires can weaponize those rules against the batter. Brewers shortstop Willy Adames certainly felt that umpire Adam Beck did just that on Saturday.

During Adames’ sixth-inning at-bat against the Angels’ Jaime BarrĂ­a, the Brewers shortstop wanted timeout after a first-pitch ball was high and tight. Now, Adames let the pitch clock run down close to the eight-second cutoff. But he did appear to call timeout in time. Umpires aren’t required to grant a timeout to the batter, and Beck opted to let BarrĂ­a continue with the pitch even as Adames left the box.

The problems really sparked by how Beck handled the situation. He not only didn’t grant Adames timeout, but he also missed the call, ruling that a high pitch was a strike.

Both the broadcast and MLB’s strike-zone chart had the pitch missing the zone.

As Adames returned to the box, he voiced his frustration towards Beck. And in that time, he didn’t become alert to the pitcher before the eight-second mark, so Beck signaled an automatic strike. That led to manager Craig Counsell being ejected for arguing.

Once Adames struck out swinging on the next pitch, he had more words for Beck and was ejected for the first time in his big-league career.

Between the no timeout, missed call, automatic strike and double ejections, the entire sequence was peak Ump Show. And fans weren’t pleased with Beck’s antics either. The umpire instigated the entire incident.

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MLB fans were in disbelief that umpire Brian O’Nora is still working after another terrible game

He’s WAY worse than Angel Hernandez.

When it comes to bad umpires, fans are quick to call out Angel Hernandez. And don’t get me wrong: Hernandez is a bad umpire. But he is far from the worst umpire working Major League games.

That title should probably belong to Brian O’Nora, and it’s somewhat astonishing that O’Nora has operated under the radar compared to Hernandez, C.B. Bucknor or Rob Drake.

Tuesday’s game between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins was yet another example of O’Nora being totally unsuited for his role as a big-league umpire. According to Umpire Scorecards, O’Nora posted a putrid 89.6 percent accuracy on the night. He missed 16 calls, including several that were nowhere close to the plate.

This pitch that nearly caught the opposite batter’s box was called a strike to Ozzie Albies.

Now, this wasn’t just an off night for O’Nora. He’s been this way all season. Out of the five games he’s worked behind the plate, he’s posted a sub-90-percent accuracy in three of them. Out of umpires who have worked at least five games behind the plate this season, O’Nora ranks dead last in accuracy at 91 percent.

When you take into account his off the field conduct and his poor performances this season, it’s an insult to the game that he’s still working behind the plate.

After Tuesday, MLB fans had seen enough of O’Nora.