Are You Awake, Baseball?

The games are quick enough in the Post Season. But the umpires sure aren’t.

Strikes are called as balls. Same goes for strikeouts. What about hits popped to center field and bounce within a foot of a fielder? Suddenly, these are outs in a double-play.

It’s not that fans don’t appreciate umpires. If it were in favor of our guys, we’d be clapping behind their dull call and jeering as the opposing manager screams irately in the face of the ump.

But it makes the game seem like the rules are bending.

Bias isn’t an issue in Major League Baseball, but proper calls are. Four to six umpires are on the field at a given time, all watching the pitches, catches, bouncing hits and stolen bases. How exactly do they miss key plays in game?

A single play can alter the outcome of a game. That’s why managers yell until they are blue in the face when they see a bad play. We’ll miss the tantrums of Joe Maddon and Terry Francona.

So what about that instant-replay option that MLB has discussed throughout the season?

In an Aug. 15 article featured in USA Today, Bob Nightengale writes:

Major League Baseball decided Thursday to implement instant replay on virtually every play but the strikezone – including three manager’s challenges per game – that will begin in 2014…

Fans will groan. Games will stretch longer without adding innings.

But when will we appreciate it?

That critical pop-fly into center field in the bottom of the 9th. In the Post Season.