Well, this is certainly a change for the better. With the new use of technology, many more (but still not all) "boundary calls" will be made correctly. So no more incidents like what happened to Delgado or ARod will occur. Of course there will be times when the umpires will feel confident that they saw the flight of the ball correctly, regardless of whether they actually did. But on the ones where the blues either don't see the play or aren't sure of the call, the correct call will be safe. On one hand it is a sad goodbye to wins caused by fortune (although there are still plenty of non-boundary calls to change the tide of the game). But looking on the bright side, no longer will batters be robbed of home runs nor pitchers charged with them unnecessarily. I think that this is a good choice, as tennis adopted the use of instant reply for serves and other borderline shots. And football has had replay for a while, which has enhanced the viewing experience. As MLB has predicted that the whole process from the time instant replay is called upon the be 2.5 minutes. I have to say that if it gets any longer than this amount of time, the pitchers will start to stiffen up, changing the course of play. Other than the possible delay of game, however, I see no possible downsides to instant replay.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
MLB Approves Instant Replay
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10 Comments:
why did it take baseball so long to use instant replay?
My simple answer is that baseball is a game which honors its history as America's pastime. Therefore, radical, and more importantly modern, changes are usually rejected or at least avoided. However, the adoption of instant replay by other sports, which also have long histories: basketball (for shot clock violations), football (for complete/incomplete passes and exact yardages), and tennis (for boundary calls), has forced baseball to do the same.
Hope this answers your question.
Stefan
I think that baseball should not use instant replay. We have started down a slippery slope, where will we stop? Fully-automated umpires? I believe that the umpires and the mistakes they make are part of the game.
Evan,
Thanks for checking out the blog. I completely understand with your view that once replay is adopted for "boundary calls" then who's gonna stop it from being used for out-safe calls and eventually calling pitches. But on the flip side, there was that one week about a month ago where two or three potential homeruns were called either foul balls or doubles (ARod and Delgado's). But to answer your post, the replay must stop here; no further use or else the randomness of the game would be taken away.
i think it will ruin the game of baseball. all the close calls and the questionable calls is what makes baseball so interesting to play and watch.
by the way thanks stefan for inviting me to your sports talk.
Anonymous (whoever you may be), thanks for checking out the blog. I agree with you almost completely. I love the part of baseball which allows the whim of the umpire to shift the momentum of the game. I just hope the instant replay doesnt take too much away.
really one game is not going to make a difference, you play 162 games a year minimum. if you make your season so close that one call will make or break your season then its your own fault.
Evan,
Thats a good point, but usually there is more than one controversial call throughout the season. I mean, perhaps there are 4 game deciding rulings. Thats a substantial number which could easily cost a team a playoff run. Of course a bad call here or there does not necessarily cost a team the game, but it has the potential of doing so.
its joe!
Oh, hey Joe!
Glad you checked out the blog. I agree with what you said earlier (as I have already said). Keep checking back, as I post new articles about every 1-2 days. Thanks.
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