Friday, April 15, 2011

Baseball should move on instant replay

I’m all for Major League Baseball expanding the use of instant replay, but baseball needs to do it in a way that doesn't have a serious adverse impact on the pace of the game. Instant replay has become a necessity for the game of baseball as technology exposes every little mistake made out in the field (or maybe the umpiring is just getting worse). I wish Bud Selig & Co could start implementing instant replay immediately, but it will take some time to develop the right system so I’ll wait for 2012 and hope that the number of costly bad calls is kept to a minimum this season. Of course, the logistics of the system are crucial. I propose that managers be limited to one replay challenge per game (and be banned from using replay to question ball/strike calls). If a manager only has one replay challenge, he will guard it carefully and use his challenge only during the most pivotal moments of a ballgame. I hope MLB goes through with the move. I’d love to avoid any more perfect game mishaps or bad playoff calls.

1 comment:

  1. Technology has changed the way that baseball has been played throughout time and the traditionalists and MLB baseball needs to get on board with the other major sports in this country and expand the way we use instant replay in games.
    Umpires make the right call most of the time but unfortunately the bad rulings they have been making recently have been very historic especially the perfect game that was taken away from Armando Gallaraga. It is owed to the fans to make sure the right calls are being made as often as possible. Umpires in the MLB are expected to perform at the highest possible level and in any trade a professional has certain tools to aide them. Why not equip umpires with the best tools out there for them to be successful?
    Although introducing the use of instant replay to take a second look at fair and foul home run balls was a controversial idea and it has been a very successful addition to the games since its first use in 2008 at Tropicana Field. It takes Umpires less time to review the calls on instant replay than it takes for them to huddle around and try to make the decisions.

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