Replay Challenge

[Willihammer]

Barreiro ranted about replay challenge last week, and I thought he made a good point: coaches are stalling after every single bang-bang play, and it kills the pacing of the game. He thought baseball could lose replay challenge altogether, during the regular season at least, because over 162 games the blown calls would even out anyways.

 

Thoughts?

[Willihammer]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15356284/mlb-replays-drastically-far-2016-season

[Otto von Ballpark]

I think a lot of fans dislike the challenge system, because it basically adds an extra layer of delay.  First the manager gets to stand on the top step while someone watches the replay in the clubhouse, then if they decide to challenge, the umpires have to phone home and wait around for a decision too.

 

It's painfully obvious that the better solution for the game would be to have an extra umpire, on site, who sits in the booth and has full replay access.  And they become the arbiter of when to wait or overturn.  For some obvious bad calls, they probably could buzz the home plate ump almost immediately and tell them to overturn.  For others, they could request that the ump calls time and get an extra ~30 seconds to review while the ump brushes the plate, etc.  A "booth ump" at the stadium would also presumably have easier/better/faster/more direct access to the broadcast feeds and production crew, so they could get the exact replay they want, faster.  There should never be a delay of multiple minutes on these things.

 

Umps would have to be willing to overturn other umps, but each ump would get a turn in the overturning role so hopefully they wouldn't worry about correcting their colleagues.  And they'd get 15 extra umpiring jobs in the league, improving their own job security.

 

Unfortunately, no one seems interested in making this happen.  MLB probably loves the delays, gives them more time for commercials and concessions breaks, and the teams and players probably like having some control with the challenge system.

[Sam Morley]

Replay in baseball is a total disgrace. It's easily the worst thing that's ever happened in the game, by far. It's worse than gambling. It's worse than steroids. It's worse than the weird plate blocking rules. It's bad in football and basketball too, but those sports are already just mediums for fantasy and gambling anyway. It's a stain on the purity of the game- the actual structure and beauty of the game- the game is bigger than mlb, played by millions of kids and amateurs around the world, and it doesn't have the right to jack around with adding elements like replay review and mound meeting timers that can't be implemented by everyone else. I don't care about pace that much, but it is slowing the game down in a manner that is far more obnoxious than meetings at the mound or batters stepping out of the box (timeless and accepted aspects of the game, that often have strategic purpose). Worse than pace, it's ruining the excitement and drama of close plays. Instead of responding in awe and astonishment to a close play and call, we just sit back and wait for the replay to tell what happened. When the call is against you, it's fun to be angry at the ump, and satisfied when your manager goes out to argue, even though you know it's to no avail. Even when a call is blown, it just becomes a part of the drama of the game, a part of what you remember and talk about, even years later. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter even a little bit to anything if a call in a baseball game has been made incorrectly, because it's just a game. It's about having fun, being entertained, and for some, making money. None of these are impacted by occurrence of incorrect calls. And lastly, and of least importance, the replay review doesn't even work- the video is subjectively reviewed, and even with all of the cameras it's often still inconclusive. I say this is of least importance, because even if it did work, it would still be wrong. Personally, I don't have much hope for seeing replay review end. I actually am dreading further future implementation- probably an eventual automated strike zone. When Mlb announced replay review, I'd said that was it for me, that I wouldn't watch anymore- but I love watching the game enough that I couldn't not watch. The day of the automated strike zone, or strike zone review, that will be the end for me.  

[Beemo]

 

He thought baseball could lose replay challenge altogether, during the regular season at least, because over 162 games the blown calls would even out anyways.

 

 

I really wish someone could track blown calls because I would be willing to bet that it doesn't even out for every team over the course of a season. Most teams are probably pretty close but there must be a team or two that end up plus or minus a dozen bad calls after a season. 

 

Combine blown calls with something like WPA to figure out how much each mistake hurt or helped a team and get a total score for how every team was affected. 

[HitInAPinch]

Too keep with the desire of a "less is more" concept for viewing of pro sports, I'll keep this brief:

 

I've hated instant replay in ANY sport from the very beginning.

[mazeville]

I'd much rather have technology to call balls and strikes than I would replay ... because he's right. The pace of the game is SO SLOW. 

 

I have two kids. And I can't even consider taking them to a weeknight game any longer because you KNOW that game will go past 10 pm. Likely to 10:30 or 11. Ridiculous. 

 

I love baseball. But four-hour games just drag. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I have two kids. And I can't even consider taking them to a weeknight game any longer because you KNOW that game will go past 10 pm. Likely to 10:30 or 11. Ridiculous. 

 

I love baseball. But four-hour games just drag. 

Agreed on this.  Average time of game, for only our 9 inning games so far this season, is 3 hours, 6 minutes.  That's up 23 minutes from 1991, and up 36 minutes from our last full season at Met Stadium (1980).

 

With a first pitch at 7:10 PM, that would mean our average 9 inning game would last until 10:16 PM.

 

Even with an afternoon start time, 3+ hours is a lot of time to spend in a captive environment with kids.  (But I digress, that's really not an issue with replay specifically but modern pacing in general and Target Field's kid-friendliness or lack thereof...)

[Willihammer]

 

I really wish someone could track blown calls because I would be willing to bet that it doesn't even out for every team over the course of a season. Most teams are probably pretty close but there must be a team or two that end up plus or minus a dozen bad calls after a season. 

 

Combine blown calls with something like WPA to figure out how much each mistake hurt or helped a team and get a total score for how every team was affected. 

Yeah. I tend to agree with Barreiro that it would even out, but, it would be nice to know one way or the other the scope of the problem in the first place. That research doesn't seem to exist, or at least, its not public (or my google skills are failing me).

[blairpaul715]

I like replay, if for no other reason it keeps the arrogant umpires from just causing their own controversies on bad calls..............but I am seeing this year especially that the umpires dont or wont overturn close calls, there really is no such thing as a tie, but they are calling alot of ties(unconfirmed calls).

[mazeville]

 

Agreed on this.  Average time of game, for only our 9 inning games so far this season, is 3 hours, 6 minutes.  That's up 23 minutes from 1991, and up 36 minutes from our last full season at Met Stadium (1980).

 

With a first pitch at 7:10 PM, that would mean our average 9 inning game would last until 10:16 PM.

 

Even with an afternoon start time, 3+ hours is a lot of time to spend in a captive environment with kids.  (But I digress, that's really not an issue with replay specifically but modern pacing in general and Target Field's kid-friendliness or lack thereof...)

 

Except that it is an issue with replay. Replay takes a long time. And that's extended games further, which is just exacerbating a problem that's been evident for some time now ...

[theBOMisthebomb]

Replay sucks and is an abomination. Disgrace to the integrity of the game. Another step toward making real life more like a video game. Why not just play out the season on a computer generated model and be done with it?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Replay in baseball is a total disgrace. It's easily the worst thing that's ever happened in the game, by far. It's worse than gambling. It's worse than steroids. It's worse than the weird plate blocking rules. It's bad in football and basketball too, but those sports are already just mediums for fantasy and gambling anyway. It's a stain on the purity of the game- the actual structure and beauty of the game- the game is bigger than mlb, played by millions of kids and amateurs around the world, and it doesn't have the right to jack around with adding elements like replay review and mound meeting timers that can't be implemented by everyone else. I don't care about pace that much, but it is slowing the game down in a manner that is far more obnoxious than meetings at the mound or batters stepping out of the box (timeless and accepted aspects of the game, that often have strategic purpose). Worse than pace, it's ruining the excitement and drama of close plays. Instead of responding in awe and astonishment to a close play and call, we just sit back and wait for the replay to tell what happened. When the call is against you, it's fun to be angry at the ump, and satisfied when your manager goes out to argue, even though you know it's to no avail. Even when a call is blown, it just becomes a part of the drama of the game, a part of what you remember and talk about, even years later. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter even a little bit to anything if a call in a baseball game has been made incorrectly, because it's just a game. It's about having fun, being entertained, and for some, making money. None of these are impacted by occurrence of incorrect calls. And lastly, and of least importance, the replay review doesn't even work- the video is subjectively reviewed, and even with all of the cameras it's often still inconclusive. I say this is of least importance, because even if it did work, it would still be wrong. Personally, I don't have much hope for seeing replay review end. I actually am dreading further future implementation- probably an eventual automated strike zone. When Mlb announced replay review, I'd said that was it for me, that I wouldn't watch anymore- but I love watching the game enough that I couldn't not watch. The day of the automated strike zone, or strike zone review, that will be the end for me.

 

My feelings are pretty close to yours--thanks.

 

I think an automated strike zone could be implemented by MLB fairly discreetly. Not confident it would be, but I think it could be. No one would notice anything different. You would still need an umpire behind home plate regardless and he could still indicate ball or strike with a hand signal.

[amjgt]

I'd be for the coaches getting MORE replay challenges (3 maybe), but needing to use them within 10 seconds of the call.

 

It's the top-step stalling that drives me bonkers.

[USAFChief]

As some of us said when MLB announced the replay system, using "challenges" is a mistake.

 

As outlined above, the way to do this was always to have a fifth ump in a booth upstairs, responsible for reviewing calls in real time, which would, in a high percentage of plays, result in zero noticeable delay.  It's only close calls that need to be looked at, and there is often confirmation one way or the other with the 1st or 2nd slow mo replay, which the ump upstairs would have confirmed before the next hitter is even in the box.  If he/she needs more time, signal the HP ump.  

 

 Getting the calls correct is what matters, and they could do that simply, in a majority of cases, quite quickly and easily.

[TheLeviathan]

Yup, the NHL has it right and has for years. Why that hasn't been copied is baffling to me.