Major League Baseball announced this morning that beginning in the 2022 season, Major League umpires “will conduct in-park announcements during the replay review process.”
It’s an overdue update to a replay system that has often been confusing for fans viewing at home and, particularly, for fans at the the park. The NFL-style announcements regarding the nature of the challenge and the reasoning behind the umpires’ rulings will lend some clarity for all spectators. The league announced that training for this process is already underway both in Arizona and in Florida, where Spring Training games are being held. All indications are that the practice will be in place come Opening Day next week.
Under the prior system, viewers were at times unclear as to what specifically was being challenged, and it was not always immediately clear to viewers (particularly those at the park) whether a call had been confirmed or simply not overturned due to a lack of sufficient video evidence. The additional transparency provided by simply giving the umpiring crew with a microphone to explain the review and its outcome should be a welcome addition moving forward.
YES. Great step in the right direction.
Yeah, I agree. This will certainly help clarify certain calls, especially the nuanced ones…
Strange why it wasn’t included from the very start.
Not strange, just amazingly stupid. For it to take this long to put in such a basic is embarrassing.
Enrico Palazzo, your moment to shine has arrived.
MLB should be taking some of their cues from the NFL. Hey. Maybe they could start promoting some of their young stars next. That’s not all that revolutionary.
@Ducky I can’t recall MLB doing any player market since the Ripken, Jr. and Grffey, Jr. days. I know Trout rebuffed them but they didn’t have to stop there. Are they really on k y relying on Subway commercials?
Exactly.
My son & his friends have absolutely no interest in baseball. What makes that notable is that they are all jocks or whatever. These are kids that have all lettered in 2 or 3 sports.
In short: exactly whom MLB should be targeting.
In the NBA, they don’t even follow a team, per se. Rather, they follow *players*. I understand this is merely anecdotal evidence. However, I don’t think that undermines it’s validity either.
I am not one to fret over the “future of the game.” If MLB goes the way of polo, I could care less. But if MLB wants to ensure it’s future, marketing their young stars is something they absolutely have to do.
Enjoy it while you can umps, satellites will soon be calling balls, strikes & close plays. AI is marching on & baseball may soon be turned into a virtual sport.
except someone at e s pn will hack into the system so its a constant Red Sox yankees series.
The umps are still reviewing the last checked swing strikeout from the dodgers game. decision coming soon.
Took long enough. But happy it’s finally happening.
I wish they had done that from the start. Many times I get confused as to what was decided on. At least it’s better than the ghost Runner and Universal d h.
How do you not like universal DH, it’s bad enough watching pitchers try n hit and only having half teams with it this is way better
There’s more “managing” of baseball games when you have a pitcher hitting. IMO, there’s less skill involved in managing an AL team vs a NL team.
Not really. The team still has a bench only now the manager won’t always save it for the pitchers spot, which was automatic. When they have to decide to play matchup, and bat for a regular, that takes much more skill and managing.
It’s almost like there was a perfect way for BOTH sides to enjoy the way they liked the game to be played before. If you liked the DH, watch the AL. If you don’t watch the NL. The problem is that while neither side was wrong in their belief, now one side has been deemed wrong.
I’m with you. I follow the Tigers and enjoy the DH. But I also love NL games for the increased strategy, small ball, etc. I was always in favor of keeping the DH as is. Like you said, both camps have a league to watch.
That excuse is so overrated IMO. The double switch is not exactly rocket science.
Yes, the game with the DH is like checkers, compared to the non-DH game, which is like chess.
Whatever type of science you think it is the point is that now it’s gone entirely.
The solution on the DH is the team loses it when the SP is removed. All the strategy the DH-haters love happens late in the game and usually involves a relief pitcher. So…once the starter is removed, no more DH. Perfect! Now everyone is happy.
You’re spot on with that..
But how long does the average starter last – 5 innings maybe.
There is no skill in managing with a DH. Just put your best 9 out there the entire game. Don’t have to worry about taking out your pitcher to pinch hit for.
Oh yeah, it is much better to watch a person deemed too unathletic or old to play first base, run the bases. That is just must see TV there.
What stymee and vtn said, in addition when either Adams or Polishjuk(IIRC) were asked, in a chat who does the DH favor said “The Dodgers”. Might be why they hosed down Freeman with money when they already had the best lineup in baseball.. As I see it, The TV advertisers and Gamblers want LA in the World Series every year. Now they pretty much will have it, at least until the end of their long-term deals with Betts and Freeman..
I enjoy watching the NL style of play, as well as the DH. But instead of always complaining about pitchers who can’t hit (and 98% of them can’t), I’d rather see emphasis on increasing the batting skills of pitchers. There’s a reason why Ohtani is so much fun to watch
So – you’d like to turn everyone into Ohtani with a bit of ’emphasis on batting skills’! Sweet idea – I wonder why NL strategy wizards never thought of that!
The reality is, and I don’t know why this isn’t obvious but it apparently isn’t – asking a pitcher to hit is akin to the ridiculous sideshow of watching a field player pitch. Pitchers are in the big leagues because they can pitch, not hit. Why make them do it, but then laugh when a field player is asked to pitch? Would it add strategy to the game to tell the manager that a field player has to pitch at least 1 inning every game? Yes, I suppose it would – but does it make the game better?
I hate both the Universal DH and the Ghost Runner. I hope some managers come to a gentleman’s agreement to play without the DH. And that in extras, they each agree to balk home the ghost runner at the start of each half inning.. Real baseball! I know with these changes I will not subscribe to mlb.tv (which I have every year since it started). I will only watch when the Braves are on free tv from now on.
i thought they were trying to speed the game up?
Nah. They just wanna make it NFL lite
We’ll, that isn’t the worst idea, seeing as how demand for the NFL’s product is strong, while MLB continues to struggle with self-inflicted injuries.
I thought by now people would understand the problem is pace of play, not length of game.
Yes!
Old way: manager argues for a few minutes, wrong call stands.
Modern way: replay takes a few minutes, proper call is made.
There’s a delay either way. Might as well get the majority of calls right.
Managers arguing was more entertaining than watching umps stand around for a couple of minutes with headsets on, but I get your point. FWIW, the proper call isn’t always made, just more often.
Old way : manager argues for a few minutes, wrong call stands.
Modern way: replay takes much longer than needed, wrong call stands because there’s not enough evidence to overturn it.
Bingo!
There’s a delay for the replay no matter what, if they’re going to do it they at least might as well mic them up.
Logistically they’re explaining the call at some point to the people on the field anyways, not really much of an additional delay to blast that explanation out to everyone.
That’s nice. Now get rid of the ghost runner crap.
I can’t wait to hear the reasoning behind some of these calls. Hah
Next step: Don’t tell New York what the original call was. Just let them watch the video and make the call from scratch.
100% agreed,
Yep I hate that, NY shouldn’t know the original call.
Can we put a minimum on the time of a replay? Let’s be honest, if you can’t make a determination in 60 seconds, you’ve f’d up whole thing.
Also, whomever is in the booth in NYC should not know what the call was.
Replay request comes in.
Viewer watches the play.
60 second clock starts.
If no decision is made w/ in 60 seconds, play stands as called.
Your argument is kind of on both sides. You want the replay to be quicker, but you are also saying that the replay officials should now have to prove both a positive and a negative. Right now, they are just looking evidence to confirm or overturn the call.
That being said, I think 60 seconds is far too generous. Should be 30 or 45 max.
There was a trend over the last few years where NY was siding with the original calls more and more often. Some people suspected that the umpires in NY didn’t want to make the on field ones look bad by overturning close plays.
Why is the “replay booth” in NYC? That doesn’t give those on the West Coast the confidence of unbiased rulings. Maybe there should be regional booths, Northeast, Southeast, West Coast, and Midwest.
Well the way I have heard announcers explain it is that there are sometimes multiple games at the same time having a replay review so you have to wait for NY to watch your specific game. I think this might be true since later in the games on the west coast the reviews seem much quicker.
Get on with it.
Umpire Emmett Ashford was famous for bellowing out To the crowd the reasons for play interruptions. but that was a long time ago.
Can’t wait for the first pitcher to get called for offsides.
“This here’s C.B. Buckner on the C.B. radio, ya copy?”
Haha!
Ok
Thankfully Joe West retired. I could only imagine how awful it would be with him on the mic.
Probably why they waited until now to implement it….
The old cowboy would have just sung the explanation. On second thought, yeah, good thing he retired.
He’d have loved the microphone. He already made every game about him.
Good thing they announced this after he retired or he’d have stuck around.
Umpires prone to grandstanding will be tempted. And yeah. Joe West would be a likely suspect if he hadn’t retired.
Took them this long to add such a common sense action by officials?
Nope. It’s been going on for years now, you just never noticed it.
Replay CAN be a good thing, but it is used far too often to see evidence of whether someone’s hand or foot came off the base even for a microsecond. It is ridiculous that fielders hold tags on a runner that is already on base just hoping for him to slightly shift. It looks so stupid. Not to mention the potential for fielders to force a hand or foot off the bag. Can be easily done on a stolen base. I think once a runner is safely on the base, the play should be dead.
you obviously never played beyond t ball.you are taught to slide feet first to avoid coming off the bag.these idiot athletes today slide face first,and get injured all the time,and come off the bag .
There have been several instances of feet popping off the bag for a split second and the runner being called out.
Now that’s a new rule I like.
Ghost runner is stupid and will always be stupid.
Some say the ghost runner is Little League stuff. Why stop there? How about the after-game base race? How about all the players line up after the base race for a juice packet and a granola bar? How about the coach takes them all out to MickeyD’s? After 4 straight balls, the batter hits off a tee?
I’m waiting for full platooning of offensive and defensive players. It made the NFL better, and would do the same for baseball.
Or get rid of the DH.
@Bronyuar:
The Phillies would love the platoon system.
The ghost runner is like little league. The next rule will be “pitch to your own team” in extra innings. Manfred is implementing stupid rules like this to shorten the game in order to attract low attention span viewers who will never become diehard fans anyway. He’s chasing his tale as he alienates true fans.
as long as we get stuff like this
youtube.com/watch?v=GWVL_24qKK8
finally a good change!
After a cursory review, Angel Hernandez f—-ed up another call.
in which languages?
I don’t know if they still do it, but MLS used to release the audio/video communication between the on field offices and VAR (video referee) whenever there was a reviewable play. I wish MLB would do this. I want to hear Angel Hernandez justify all of his missed calls for all of us to see. Accountability is needed.
This is good in pure entertainment value. The umpires announcing their decisions will be a good cheer/bo moment for the crowd. Their limited replay system doesn’t slow the game down much when there’s only so many challenges. And realistically it’s less time than it would usually take to resolve all the arguing and yelling.
Guys, note the date. This looks like an April Fool’s Day joke.
ikr
This should make some umpires very happy since they love a good ump show and making the game about them
All replay decisions should be made by retired (from the field) referees (umps, etc.) in booths, not the on field officials.
Stop wasting time just to protect their egos.
The booth official can relay the call down to him.
More often than not, the announcers and TV audience know the correct call before the on field official can even get their headsets on. No reason for this.
“False home run, offense, replay at bat”
“After review of the play, the runner did touch home plate, replay 1st out”
Will this cut review time? Will they explain the ruling or just say safe or out?
MLB with the echo refs…
It’s about time
I’d like to see cameras in the review room back in NY and hear the actual discussions. It would be more entertaining than watching umpires standing there with headsets.
“After the review of the play, the play on the ice was OFFSIDES” lookin ass
Not sure how it is at other ballparks but in Cleveland replays and close controversial plays are never shown on the multi-million dollar score board. The entire game should be played on the score board. What a waste of money, a score board used just for player profiles and the box score.
They should also announce why the play is under review. A lot of times, especially if you’re sitting at the ballpark, it’s difficult to know why a call was challenged.
“The NFL-style announcements regarding the nature of the challenge and the reasoning behind the umpires’ rulings will lend some clarity for all spectators.”
Angel hernandez is going to be busy
APRIL FOOL’S!
Just have the PA announce it to the crowd. The umps should be anonymous. The only reason cb Buckner and angel Hernandez are known is because they are terrible at their jobs.
Yep, this ought to speed up games.
“Wow, Bob really blew that call. He was safe.”
This ought to be fun.
A pretty obvious good thing but I really wish by now they could just improve the entire replay process. I kind of feel like this is for all sports. I want the obvious stuff overturned but I also don’t want constant delays.seeing if a guy overslid 2nd by an inch.
I also wonder why mlb can’t put in what tennis has for fair/foul balls.or maybe even boundary home-run calls/foul poles, etc. The lines are static and those are tough calls for umpires. Reviews in tennis take 5 seconds – think that would be easy to implement.
The Lords of Baseball got this idea by seeing the Enbrel commercial where Erin the umpire gives the command to “play ball!”
[Speaking of which, a “Woman in Blue” would do a better job than half the male umpires.]
Just my take…Human error has always been part of the game. Plus, the “replay booth” gets the call wrong a good percentage of the time. Therefore, replay should be scrapped unless it is fair/foul or home run/not home run calls. It does more damage to the flow of the game and adds to overall time length of the game to wait for such rulings than it is worth.
there will be boos after the announcements!
Replay takes too long anyway. this just ADDS to it.
Replay should be 45 seconds max. preferably 30 seconds.
Put a 5th ump on crew and have “in stadium” booth.
NOT umpire central in NY where other replays add to the delay.
if you cannot tell after 45 seconds go with umpire judgement on field.
I also can understand a signal, this is not needed.
Umps should demand a raise for their new speaking roles now to help pay for voice lessons
If MLB Gameday is any indication, umpires are still calling balls and strikes wrong. That probably has much more of an effect on the outcome of games over the course of a season than anything else. I have to wonder if the league requires anything so obvious as annual eye exams for umpires.
Halle-Lu-Yerr!!
Waited until Joe West retired. Only good decision MLB has made in a long time. Cowboy Joe was an assault on the eyes….why risk the hearing of the baseball universe too?
Another way to slow down the game.
I can’t wait to hear Angel Hernandez try to explain some of his “calls.”
Too bad Joe West didn’t have to face this. It’s probably why he finally retired.
“We need to speed up the game. Those casual fans are having a difficult time watching our sport.” That’s why we need a pitch clock! Oh and now we will take more time to explain what everyone watching already is aware of. What a joke.
Angel Hernandez should be booed relentlessly everytime he clicks on the mic to announce a ruling, in every city he’sworking in…worst umpire in the history of baseball.
That’ll speed up the game.