MLB fans irate after controversial review helps Yankees win
Baseball, like most sports, has incorporated instant replay in an effort to ensure that the correct call is made on close plays and provide a fair outcome.
And for those who believe baseball’s umpires to be incompetent, Saturday’s game action brought a case of even replay being powerless in the face of humanity’s capacity to screw things up.
In the ninth inning of a 6-all tie between the New York Yankees and Oakland A’s, Matt Olson of the A’s appeared to have scored on a sacrifice fly, giving Oakland prime position to send in the closer and steal a win at Yankee Stadium.
Instead, after New York challenged the call, Gary Sanchez’s tag on Olson was ruled to have been in time, with he and outfielder Brett Gardner sharing the glory on one heck of a web gem.
The call was reversed. Double play. Inning over.
The Yankees then went on to win the game in 11 innings, 7-6, on a walk-off base hit by Neil Walker that scored none other than Gary Sanchez.
Trouble is, on further review, Sanchez didn’t really lay the tag on Olson.
You be the ump. Was Olson safe or out? pic.twitter.com/97uIqYpMY1
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) May 12, 2018
If you really stretch your imagination, like “biased kid in New York watching on TV” level stretch, you might say Sanchez grazed Olson’s jersey with his glove, but if that were the case, the flap of the jersey would move; it doesn’t.
Likewise, there’s no movement in Sanchez’s glove consistent with making contact with an object on its sweep trajectory. It moves cleanly and freely through every frame, catching nothing but air.
Bluntly, the umpire got it right the first time, and reversing the call was a spectacular screw-up that gifted the Yankees the game.
A’s fans were justifiably upset.
I've seen the A's get screwed on replay many of times, but this by far has to be the worst. And of course it happens in yankee stadium.
— The guy that's tired of this shit. (@oaklandamerican) May 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/RRCop475/status/995401919190351872
On the A's broadcast, there was a conclusive angle – that Olson was safe. Sanchez missed the tag entirely. MLB replay COMPLETELY blew this one, and it's really hard not to see the Yankees bias on the call.
— Hoss Porpoise (@Syzzix) May 12, 2018
There’s also the bigger point here. Replays, to overturn a call, must be conclusive in every sport in which they are used. The call on the field gets the benefit of the doubt.
In this case, the evidence is nowhere near conclusive; the mere fact that people can plausibly argue about it more than satisfies that standard.
But if you’re the type of person who believes that baseball is out to protect its big-market teams, especially in front of their home fans, and that teams like Oakland are fighting an uphill battle by nature … well, plenty of fan bases in other sports would be happy to buy you a beer.
Replay continues to cause more controversy than it was created to solve.
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