Tag: Umpires

Stats (and the eye test) show World Series umpire had a horrendous Game 3

Alfonso Marquez had a BAD game.

It was a World Series game that had MLB fans once again calling for robot umps.

In Game 3, with the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in a tight 3-1 victory, home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez had a rough game. Per @UmpireAuditor, he got 89.9 percent of his calls correct, which isn’t great.

Video, as you’ll see below, shows a blatant strike that was called a ball, and some outside pitches called strikes, much to everyone’s consternation, including the hitters involved.

We have seen some not good umpiring in these playoffs and this is just another one to add to the list:

Why MLB’s best umpire Pat Hoberg isn’t working the 2023 World Series

MLB’s best umpire won’t be working the World Series.

Every year, MLB should make it a goal to have the best umpires working the World Series. After all, these are the biggest games, and blown calls could impact who lifts the Commissioner’s Trophy.

But when MLB released its umpiring assignments for the World Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, one name was notably missing: Pat Hoberg.

There’s a reason for that, though.

You may remember that Hoberg made history last year with a perfect game in the World Series. He was the first umpire to call a game perfectly since umpire tracking started. And he followed that up with a strong 2023. He was the second-best umpire in all of baseball this season, according to Umpire Scorecards. And since 2020, he has been MLB’s most accurate umpire. Simply put, he’s an umpire who should be working the World Series.

Yet, according to MLB rules, umpires are not allowed to work the World Series in consecutive years.

That policy dates back to at least 2018, which prevents umpires from working the World Series consecutively.

Though that policy keeps MLB’s best umpire away from MLB’s biggest games in 2023, it explains why Hoberg won’t be working any of the games in Arizona and Texas.

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MLB playoffs: The umpires for the 2023 American League and National League wild card

A look at the umpiring crews for the wild card.

The MLB regular season is officially over. And while we already know that 18 teams saw their seasons come to an end on Sunday. Dozens of umpires will also head into an offseason.

Given the stakes of the MLB playoffs, the league looks to assign the best-performing umpires to work postseason games. The on-field crews are also expanded with umpires positioned in right field and left field.

On Monday, MLB announced its umpiring rosters for the wild card series in the National League and American League. And the result was four experienced crews with a combined experience of 18 World Series between them.

Bryce Harper went off on Angel Hernandez and was ejected after being totally correct

Bryce Harper was totally in the right here!

Another week, another Angel Hernandez special and Bryce Harper wasn’t having it.

On Thursday, the Philadelphia Phillies were hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates as the 2023 MLB regular season enters its final days. The Phillies recently clinched the first wild card spot in the National League, with the team looking to get back to the World Series off of bats like Harper’s.

In the bottom of the third, with one out and no one on, Harper was faced with a full count. Harper made a check swing on a ball low and away and was called out on strikes after the home plate umpire checked with Hernandez at third. Harper was absolutely livid after the call, as he went off on Hernandez and earned himself an ejection in the process, throwing his batting helmet to the Phillies crowd on his way out.

That’s definitely not a swing. Let’s see it from the other angle, shall we?

Not even close! We’ve seen a lot of Hernandez gems either in the field or behind home plate this season, but this one is especially egregious.

Here’s how MLB fans reacted after Harper was ejected for being totally right on this terrible Hernandez call.

The Pirates’ Ke’Bryan Hayes called out umpire Bill Miller after a horrific call led to a strikeout

This was a terrible call and Ke’Bryan Hayes had every right to be upset.

There have been a lot of bad calls in baseball this year, from terrible strikeouts to umpires forgetting to reset the pitch clock and misremembering the count. And now, add this 3-1 strike call from umpire Bill Miller to the running tally of dreadful missteps this season.

On Sunday, Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes was facing Atlanta Braves pitcher A.J. Minter in the top of the eighth inning, with the home team holding a 5-2 lead. On the 3-1 count, it seemed as if Hayes was set to go to first on a walk thanks to a ball outside the zone. However, Miller called it a strike, keeping Hayes in the batter’s box on a pitch that was definitely not a strike.

See for yourself!

Not only that, the missed 3-1 strike call led to Hayes striking out mere moments later, ending the inning for the Pirates and cutting off any chance of an eighth inning comeback.

After the game, Hayes took to Twitter to express his frustrations with Miller’s call, even stating that the umpire brushed off his attempts to hold him accountable.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see a fine tossed Hayes’ way for his candid comments about Miller’s call and umpires as a whole. MLB fans, on the other hand, appreciated how honest Hayes was in his assessment of Miller’s call.

Phillies fans were furious after ump’s terrible strikeout call cost team a run with bases loaded

This strike out may have changed the game for the Phillies.

The Philadelphia Phillies faithful have every right to be mad at umpire Alex MacKay for this call that cost the team a run.

On Sunday, the Phillies were down 2-0 to the Minnesota Twins, but had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Alec Bohm was facing a 3-2 count, with a walk set to score a run and cut the deficit in half.

Instead, however, Bohm was rung up looking on a called strike that was well inside. Bohm couldn’t believe the call as he spiked his bat in frustration after MacKay rung him up and the home Phillies crowd was instantly irate.

Here’s how the play went down.

That’s … not a strike.

An inning later, Phillies manager Rob Thomson was ejected after Bryce Harper was called out on strikes on a pitch that missed the outside corner.

Phillies fans noted that MacKay was a call-up umpire for this game and were not happy with his performance in a crucial rubber match. Here’s how Phillies fans reacted on Twitter after Bohm struck out looking with the bases loaded on a terrible call.

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Ángel Hernández botched an easy stolen base out and MLB fans ripped his terrible call

The call was eventually overturned, but it was still very bad!

Ángel Hernández’s first week back in Major League Baseball play could be going better.

Earlier this season, MLB fans noticed that Hernández — likely the most unpopular umpire in baseball for his frequent horrible calls — hadn’t been working games. Major League Umpires director Randy Marsh told For The Win that Hernández’s absence was due to a “medical matter” and it was only recently that the umpire had been spotted working minor league games.

On Monday, Hernández was back on the field at the MLB level, this time holding court as the second base umpire for the evening’s Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers contest. During the fifth inning, Nationals outfielder Alex Call made an attempt to steal second but was tagged by Brewers shortstop Willy Adames.

Inexplicably, Hernández made the call that Call was safe, but replay showed that Adames clearly tagged his man before he got anywhere close to the base.

Thankfully, the Brewers challenged the play and it was overturned, but what a mess. Definitely not the way Hernández wanted to kick off his return to MLB play, that’s for sure.

MLB fans, however, ripped Hernández for his terrible call on what should have been an easy out made right then and there.

Blue Jays pitching coach was bizarrely ejected by umpire without even looking at him

This no-look ejection has to be a first in baseball.

Whatever Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker said, it clearly drew the ire of umpire Malachi Moore for an ejection.

On Tuesday, Alek Manoah was starting his second game since returning from a minor league demotion back in June. Despite a solid outing earlier in July, Manoah struggled during Tuesday’s game against the San Diego Padres, allowing two runs in the first inning before walking a batter with two outs in the second.

After Manoah walked Trent Grisham, pitching coach Walker visited the mound to talk to his pitcher. Moore walked to the mound not moments later then ejected Walker for something that was said during the conversation. The strangest part? Walker wasn’t even looking in Moore’s direction when he was ejected!

Whatever was said between Walker and Manoah, Moore clearly didn’t like it. Given the context that Moore missed a strike three call earlier on in the at-bat against Grisham, it’s highly likely Walker was objecting to the umpire’s ruling and that got him tossed.

A no-look ejection is not something you see every day in baseball, that’s for sure.

MLB fans, announcers ripped ump for ending Mariners – Nationals with a strike call miles off the plate

This was somehow called a strike to end the game.

Here we go again with the calls for robot umpires.

Because home plate umpire Mark Carlson made a strike call on a ball that was extremely off the plate that ended the Washington Nationals’ 8-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

The batter, Jeimer Candelario, was confused. The announcers on both sides of the booth were very much wondering why the heck that was called a strike. And look at the screenshot above: That was low and outside. But called a strike! With the bases loaded! Not sure if it was as bad as a call from back in March, but it was still pretty bad.

MLB fans and the aforementioned announcers ripped that call on Twitter. Here’s a roundup:

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Mics picked up ump Doug Eddings roasting the Nationals’ attendance in a message to the D-backs dugout

That was COLD from the umpire.

The Washington Nationals haven’t been much of a draw at the ticket office this season. They’re sitting at last place in the National League East and just edging out the Rockies at the bottom of the entire National League.

When you take that and add a one-off make-up game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on a Thursday afternoon, you’re not going to find much of a crowd at Nationals Park. That made for quite the exchange between home plate umpire Doug Eddings and the Diamondbacks dugout. He wanted to remind the D-backs that he could hear *everything* thanks to the sparse crowd.

With Lane Thomas at the plate in the first inning, mics clearly picked up Eddings saying, “Remember, there’s not a lot of fans here, and I can hear everything you’re saying.”

You could even see Thomas laughing about the comment because, well, it was true. There weren’t many fans there, so Eddings wanted to give the D-backs a friendly warning about complaining over calls.

You know your team is down bad, though, when an umpire comments on the crowd.