Major League Baseball: Thoughts on baseball’s new replay system

Perhaps the most hyped aspect of the new baseball season is the expanded use of instant replay to review umpire decisions.

Replay 101

Though home runs had been reviewable at umpire discretion since August 2008, the system was massively expanded last off-season. Now, in addition to dingers, plays at bases; collisions at home plate; fair or foul calls in the outfield; catches; and the count on the batter are reviewable via a manager’s challenge.

Each skipper is allocated one challenge per game, with a second challenge granted if the first is correct. Umpires can also choose to review plays without a challenge from the seventh inning on.

Reviews are decided by umpires in a central New York City office, not by on-the-field umpires, who previously went into a room to view the video.

Opinions

So far, the new replay system has been met with mixed reception. Some observers, such as Yankees’ television analyst Al Leiter, think its a solid improvement that can be great with some tweaks, while others think it’s a debacle. After a tag play at second base in last Saturday’s Yankees-Red Sox game was admittedly ruled incorrectly even with replay, Boston manager John Farrell angrily said, “It’s hard to have any faith in the system.”

Coming into the season, I was “meh” about expanded replay. I’m all for getting calls correct, but I was worried about the length of reviews—the long, and frequent, replay stoppages are perhaps my biggest pet peeve about NFL games—and runner placement should a call be overturned. Regarding the latter concern, if a boundary call was changed from “foul” to “fair” after review, the umpires would have to decide where the runner or runners should be placed. This decision could prove difficult based on the situation and runner speed.

I’ve actually been fine with the system, thus far. I like that the number of reviews is limited, and the speed of said reviews has been tolerable, averaging two minutes and 15 seconds through the season’s first two weeks.

Stalling

One aspect that may need to be changed is the initiation of reviews. Thus far, managers have been walking onto the field to stall while a coach watches a replay. Michael Kay has complained about the stalling during Yankees’ telecasts, but it doesn’t bother me too much. After all, there have always been stall tactics in baseball. For example, pitchers throw repeatedly to first base to give a reliever more time to warm up, and pitching coaches walk slowly to the mound to achieve the same result. I find the latter tactics to be more annoying.

Relationship to other rule changes

A larger problem than replay, in my opinion, is a pair of controversial rule changes that were implemented during the off-season. One of these alterations forces fielders to complete the transfer of the ball from their glove to their bare hands to record an out, while the other change bars catchers from blocking home plate without possession of the ball.

Similar to the “Tuck Rule” controversy in the 2001 NFL Playoffs, unfamiliarity or ambiguity with these new rules is leading to confusion about the proper call. So, while the decision to uphold a “drop” call in the game between the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians on April 9 may have been correct, people don’t believe it because they aren’t used to the rule.

I think these changes should be reverted because simpler rules work better. They are less subjective and, therefore, lead to less controversy.

Overall

For better or worse, it’s been an interesting start to a new era in baseball. I look forward to seeing how it develops.

What do you think of instant replay in baseball? Sound off in a comment!