I said it last week and I will say it again. Baseball has been fine for 140 years without replay.
I’m glad Reyes got a home run. I would have been OK with it being a double. I’m fine without taking half an hour to review Pagan’s hit in the 10th.
What I would like to see is an outfield fence that is clear. No lines. If it goes over it’s a home run. Move the fences in two feet where need be and make them shorter where there is a silly line.
….
Before I forget, great job by Howie tonight. He scolded the crowd for doing the wave, and was enthusiastic about keeping Pelf in the game.
The problem with the HR replays is the ridiculously drawn-out process. Sending all the umps inside to huddle around a replay is bone dumb. I was listening on the radio at the time, and Rose and Hagin conclusively declared it homer before the umps even decided to go inside. Seriously, everybody in America can see multiple replays within seconds EXCEPT someone authorized to make the call? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Just put a 5th ump upstairs, already.
Sparks your solution is tolerable but I’m fine with human element.
Using the ‘baseball was fine without it’ argument is kind of ridiculous. You can say that about any new advancement that has entered the game for the last xxx years.
The fact is, we now have the technology to get calls right that did not exist in the past. Leave the HR reviews the way they are and adopt an NFL style for the rest.
I can live with a game being 10 minutes longer if it doesn’t mean a blown call turning a potentially big game.
Paul – would you have a coaches challenge type thing? How might it work. Interested in the discussion.
I would go the route of 1 challenge per nine innings and 1 if the game goes to extras. Obviously it can’t be limitless because that would bog everything down, but as we get towards games that are going to be having severe pennant implications, getting calls right becomes more important.
It also brings an element of stategy into when to use it (ie if Reyes gets called out on a very close play leading off the game, you’d probably be better served to wait until later to see if a worse call comes)
I know comparing it to the NFL is apples to oranges, but replay works well there and doesn’t really prolong the game very much.
Frankly the tv timeouts are the big culprit in both games going longer than they should, but that’s not chaning anytime soon.
Coaches challenges are not feasible in baseball. They’re really not feasible in the NFL either, but at least you have a clock.
in baseball you would just wait, and delay with mound visits and throwing to first, until someone let you know conclusively if it was worth challenging.
I dislike the ump in the booth option too, as it’d pretty much eliminate arguing with umpires and there are so many plays that evolve instantly based on a call. Take a hit to shallow outfield that’s ruled a catch. Runner is halfway between third and home. retreats to safety. Ump in booth overrules it as a trap. If this was correctly called on the field, the runner probably scores (barring an awesome throw, which you cannot know would’ve happen) do you award the guy home? but what if he wouldn’t have made it? what if the guy at first would’ve gone to second on the throw home? what if the catcher would’ve missed the throw and he would’ve went to third?
actually it has NOT been fine for 140 years. there just wasn’t a feasible solution until now. how many bad calls in recent past in the postseason has affected the outcome?