It's the year of the pitcher and the opening games of the postseason saw a No Hitter and a CG Shutout (2 hits) by two of the top pitchers in the league. It would be nice to be able to devote this week's MLB blog to that, but something more pressing has come up:
INSTANT REPLAY MUST BE ENFORCED IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.
I'm not exactly sure if I've made myself clear yet, so let me say it again: there is NO reason why instant replay should not be used in baseball. Lets break this down so that the close-minded, ignoramus, formerly well-respected baseball elite can understand why this is the most ridiculous conversation that has gone on too long.
1. "It slows down the game" - Really!? Checking if a call is correct or not slows down the slowest game in sports!? Why don't you actually force the pitcher to throw the ball in a timely manner instead of waiting 30-45 seconds in between pitches? Or maybe you would actually be cutting down the time instead of seeing overweight managers struggling to walk up the steps out of the dugout to go argue with the umpire?? The real problem with this argument is that you are basing instant replay off of professional football, which is possibly the worst instant replay system in existence.
NFL Replay: Play happens. All 10 people piled up involved in the play pull themselves off the ground. They stand around as the ball is placed in its new location and some signal is made. Play clock starts. Coaches sit around in the booth and look at the replay. They know a wrong call was made. We see the replay for the first time and know immediately that the wrong call was made. Coach waits and then throws dramatic red flag onto the field. Referee gets a little signal and thinks to himself, "Oh my f-ing god!? Does someone think I got something wrong!?" He runs over to the red flag and asks the coach, "What could you possibly believe I just got wrong!?" Coach explains it was the play that just happened because those are the rules of instant replay. Referee announces to the crowd that the coach has apparently challenged the ruling on the field of the previous play as if we're blind 5-year-olds who know nothing about the game, didn't already see the wrong call on the big screen, and were blind to the fact that none of the players are moving around and there's a red flag on the field. Referee then runs to the opposite end of the field to a little booth. He has to talk to some guy in a different booth who likely has already seen the replay like 7 times and knows it's the wrong call that he would like to see video evidence of the previous play. Then he talks to the guys at Buffalo Wild Wings. After the second commercial break, he comes back onto the field to tell everyone he screwed up. Referee then discusses with the other referees where the ball should be placed and how much time is on the clock. They set the ball. Another commercial break. Play clock resumes. Next play. Time elapsed: ....sorry I fell asleep.
Lets compare this to tennis replay: Play ends. Player thinks it actually hit the line. He says so. Awesome graphic comes up on the big screen simulating the previous play. The crowd is uproarious with technology. It hits the line! Round of applause. Play resumes.
Amazing! I don't even care to discuss other arguments that baseball elite may have. They aren't justified. I'm not saying scrutinize every ball and strike. But foul balls, running the bases, close plays at first - these are simple things. At most they involve 1 or 2 people and sometimes not even that. There are no difficult camera angles necessary to see if a ball slipped out of someone's hands before his knee hits the ground and 27 people are hitting him at one time. And you don't need the umpire running into the dugout. Take a page out of Hockey (yes, I just gave props to the NHL) and have a third party in a booth that just looks at it immediately and says - hey bro, got that one wrong. End of story. Ultimately the concept of instant replay is simple: it's supposed to be INSTANT. If we as the viewer on television know within 10 seconds that the play was wrong or not, the players and umpires can figure it out too in a timely manner. End of story.
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