There must be something about Braves-Brewers games that brings out the worst in MLB’s broken replay system because it happened again on Monday.
You may remember back during the 2021 National League Division Series when the Brewers pulled off a tip-drill catch in foul territory to retire Adam Duvall in Game 4. As incredible as that catch was, it became awfully clear that the ball hit the ground. The play, though, wasn’t reviewable because MLB’s terrible replay system only allows reviews for trap/catch situations in the outfield — not the infield.
Well, on Monday, we saw a similar scenario go the Braves’ way on an inexcusable missed call by the umpires.
The Atlanta Braves have been on the wrong end of some truly horrible calls in their recent postseason history. In the 2012 NL Wild Card game, the Braves saw a late rally spoiled when the infield fly rule was called on a fly ball to the outfield.
That play wasn’t reviewable and led to a trash-littered Turner Field in Atlanta.
Well, nine years later, the Braves found themselves in disbelief over another obvious missed call. But because MLB has a laughably broken replay system, the umpiring crew was not allowed to overturn a clear missed call in a high-leverage spot of a postseason game.
The Oakland Athletics managed to snap the Yankees’ 13-game winning streak on Saturday, but third base umpire Will Little didn’t make matters easy for either team.
Little’s rough day started when he called a balk on the Yankees’ Nestor Cortes Jr. — a call that usually gets made by the first base umpire when a lefty is on the mound. Little was the only umpire to see a balk, and, well, it wasn’t a balk.
It got even weirder in the third inning when Starling Marte was called safe on a steal attempt. It looked like Rougned Odor got the tag down first, but Little just didn’t see it. That same inning, Little called Marte out after he drifted too far off the bag on a hard liner into the shift.
The problem: Odor was clearly off the bag. Like, it wasn’t even close. You know it was a bad call when the Yankees broadcast reacted in disbelief.
Third base umpire Will Little is having a day…
He's the only ump that called balk on a lefty, he missed an obvious out at third on a steal but the Yankees already lost their challenge, then he calls out on a double play and even after review umpires uphold it pic.twitter.com/QjEMRpCamx
The call went to MLB’s replay system — which remains broken — and the ruling on the field was upheld. Again, Odor was clearly off the bag. It was obvious on replay.
The whole sequence would lead to A’s manager Bob Melvin getting ejected, and you honestly can’t blame Melvin for being upset there. If umpires are missing easy calls that proceed to get upheld in replay, then what are teams supposed to do?
It was a terrible day all around for that crew, and there’s no reason to expect anything do be done about it. That’s just how MLB operates.
We’re going on nearly a decade of MLB using its expanded replay system to review calls, and it remains an absolute mess.
Most fans can agree that baseball benefits from having a replay system, in theory. After all, obvious missed calls shouldn’t change the game when you have the technology at your disposal to fix it. But the way MLB instituted its replay rules — and continues to keep in place — is beyond broken.
Let Sunday’s game between the New York Yankees and New York Mets serve as the latest example.
With Brandon Nimmo at the plate in the third inning, he hit a high, bouncing grounder to first. Luke Voit fielded the ball and had to run to try to beat Nimmo to the bag. And according to umpire James Hoye, Voit got there first.
This time Voit takes it himself instead of flipping to Cole and he just barely gets Nimmo (replay kept the out call) pic.twitter.com/No5gVHf0J0
