When you get right down to it, the Major League Baseball season is one long replay.
A lot of things get repeated over the course of 162 games:
Jonathan Papelbon blows save after save.
Joe Maddon outsmarts himself with some cockamamie decision every other series.
Past a diving Jeter. Past a diving Jeter. Past a diving Jeter.
Yet baseball was the last of the major sports to incorporate replay. Baseball’s leadership has always been slow to change, unless, of course, there’s a way to make a buck. It finally introduced limited replay in 2008 and made a few tweaks until this past January, when it expanded the scope of what could be reviewed.
Essentially, the use of technology is still in the experimental stage. MLB executives acknowledged as much when the new rules were implemented.
If these executives, reported to be lead by ex-managers such as Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa, have in fact gone into this season with an open mind, the they should already know expanded replay just doesn’t work as presently constituted.
The opening week of the season wasn’t a good one for replay. The most publicized faux pas came when Giants manager Bruce Bochy’s challenge failed to overturn an incorrect call at first base. Later, the runner at first base scored from third on a wild pitch, only he was clearly out at the plate. But Bochy had already used his challenge (if the first call had been overturned, he would have received another challenge). The Giants lost the game by one run.
So is MLB trying to get the call right or not? Baseball officials have pretty much admitted their goal is not to get every call correct, which is reasonable. But when it misses the most important calls, replay becomes a detriment.
Baseball tried to please too many people with the current rule. It heard concerns that expanded replay would draw out games that are already losing young viewers to their plodding pace. It sought to assure them that the flow of the game, such as it is what with pitchers and batters taking leisurely strolls between every pitch, would not be disrupted by replay. So it placed the impetus on managers and gave them the burden of deciding which blown calls are more important than others.
The manager challenge system isn’t doing anyone any favors, least of all the managers. It’s a strategic element of the game most could do without.
If a manager isn’t sure whether he should challenge a call, he’s still obligated to walk onto the field, confront the umpires and wait for a signal from the dugout on whether to ask for a replay. They’re at the mercy of an employee sitting somewhere in the bowels of the stadium looking at a television set. Of course, that means the manager may have to spend the post-game press conference defending a challenge he wouldn’t have made if he had seen the replay himself.
The system isn’t helping umpires either. When managers use up their challenge on a call the umps got correct, and then a blown call goes unchallenged, no one talks about the call the umps got right.
It’s also made some umpires noticeably gun-shy about making a call. For example, on Friday Washington’s Ian Desmond hit a ball that got wedged underneath the outfield wall padding for what should have been ruled a ground-rule double. The third base umpire did not make the call and Desmond circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run, forcing Atlanta to use a challenge.
Some have suggested only reviewing scoring plays such as the previous example. While that certainly would simplify things, it wouldn’t really be fair, the Bochy example being a good example.
There is only one way to keep replay a part of the game and make it effective and fair. Everything except balls-and-strikes must be reviewable. No manager challenges. No umpires on the field doing the second-guessing.
To do that, MLB would need to turn everything to the central office in New York that currently reviews all of the calls, like the NHL’s generally highly-regarded goal replay system. Or it could have on-site control rooms with replay officials focused solely on one game.
The most obvious flaw in a centrally-controlled, all-encompassing replay system is it might cause more delays because managers would be arguing and stalling on every close play to make sure the replay official has had plenty of looks at the replay.
Of course, baseball could more than make up for those stall tactics by eliminating the most egregious delays, the needless walks between pitches.
But, remember, baseball is slow to change. Perhaps someone can convince Torre and LaRussa they’re in the eighth inning of a one-run game, the current replay rule is an ineffective middle reliever and the new rule is Mariano Rivera or Dennis Eckersley warming up in the bullpen.
How long before they’d give the current rule the hook?
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