Sunday Night Baseball’s Takeaway: MLB Replay System is Broken

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies took a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth inning, after the home plate umpire erroneously ruled Alec Bohm safe as the Phillies’ third baseman slid into home after tagging up on a shallow fly ball to left field. 

The problem is, Bohm never actually touched home plate before Braves’ catcher, Travis D’Arnaud, tagged him. Therefore, Bohm should have been out and the Phillies’ run nullified. 

Given that Bohm’s run gave Philadelphia the lead, Atlanta’s manager, Brian Snitker, challenged the ruling on the field. After a lengthy review, the call on the field was upheld. 

Big Deal, run scored. Why are some MLB players and fans up in arms about one run?

It’s not that the run scored, but rather it’s the fact that a system designed to eliminate such egregious errors failed to live up to its purpose on national television.

Now for the baseball ‘traditionalists’ that wish to argue that human error has been a part of umpiring and baseball for nearly two centuries, know that this isn’t a call to eliminate the human element of the game, but rather a plea for Major League Baseball to allow instant replay to amend any potential officiating mistakes— i.e. let technology do “its job.”

Sure, it’s important to acknowledge that umpires are human and thus are bound to commit errors while officiating. It’s no secret that MLB teams and their fanbases have endured the pain of umpires missing calls or umpires whose superiority complex and enormous ego prevents them from changing their call— regardless of how blatant their mistake was. In fact, bad umpiring has been so prevalent throughout baseball’s history, that it is now essentially deemed and accepted as part of the game.

However, Instant Replay was supposed to redeem MLB teams from a great portion of the suffering caused by poor umpiring. At its essence, Instant Replay was implemented to give MLB teams a sense that potential blown calls would and could be fixed. Instant Replay was supposed to be a beacon of hope in the bleak and ever-lasting quest for perfect umpires. But it’s not. It’s failing. 

Okay, so what’s the solution?

Have MLB’s “Replay Center” review every play that’s challenged without taking into consideration the umpires’ call on the field. Rather, look at the play as “an eye in the sky,” from a neutral and detached perspective— almost as if they (the replay officials) were outsiders. Just analyze the straight visual evidence without facing the potential burden of having to uphold a call.

How’s that going to change anything?

According to MLB, in order for an umpire’s call to be overturned, there needs to be “clear and convincing evidence” that the call was indeed missed by the on-field crew. Needless to say, as witnessed on Sunday, just because the evidence isn’t “convincing” doesn’t mean that the call on the field isn’t wrong. After all, “convincing” is subjective and therefore allows for multiple interpretations.

The intention behind the proposed solution is to put aside biases, egos and emotions for the sake of making the correct call. Sure, it may seem like wishful thinking to essentially hope for umpires and replay officials to ‘shut off’ their humanity and to practically turn into replay robots, but given that the system’s current state is broken, it might be worth a shot.