Should Instant Replay be instated in Major League Baseball now?
 

If so, how should it work?

I can't see arguing ever throw to first, but maybe a protective layer that would prevent incidents such as happened in the game last night.

i don't see a problem with it as long as they aren't reviewing individual pitches to see if it was really a strike or a ball.

no way :thumbsup

I agree.

They need to do something though, too much money on the line to mess up a call like they did last night.

1st of all...i dont think gambling should be the driving force for making the change...

I tend to think the umps are part of the game...a classic part of the game.What would baseball be without Lou losing his mind about a close play at 2nd...then throwing the base out in right field....

I like human element....and for the record...i like the bowl system too. Playoff...more effective....but it just wouldnt be college football.

We already are trying to ward of 3 hour games as the avg...do we really need to stop twice a game and review a play for 5-10 minutes


PLAY BALL

Holy cow the game is slow enough as it is. Imagine a 1-0 game that lasted 5 hours because of instant replay. Games that start at 7PM would have to start at 5PM. Mid afternoon games would end with the lights being on. I can't see MLB wanting to extend the length of the game and I think the networks would have a fit.

Instant reply doesn't belong in baseball. Baseball is already a slow game, instant reply would just make it worse. Incidents like this is what makes baseball great as it brings the controversy to the public to decide and fuels the fans.

This wouldn't even be an issue if the Angels catcher would have just put a tag on Pierzynski like any good catcher would. When you don't do what your supposed to and the batter is a catcher also, he is going to take advantage of it and hope for the best call.

And yes I am a White Sox fan and think that the ball was caught when looking at it from dead on. :)

Replay would really mess up the flow of the game; its history.

With that said, perhaps the other Umpires should be given more latitude ... for example, a vote system - if an ump suspects a call is bad, they can vote on it - as of now, if my recollection is correct, the head ump can simply ignore / refuse to accept the call of another ump.

Combine an ump voting system (that is the umps on the field could override the calls of any other if they felt a call was bad) along with stricter performance reviews of umps - that may be all that's needed.

If they do choose to go with instant reply, they should implement it like they do with american Football - very limited number of replays (challenges) by each team.

To digress a bit ... if MLB went to a replay challenge scheme, that would likely eliminate many heated arguments in which players/managers/etc yell at the Umps; kick dirt, etc ... I'd miss that LOL!

Ron

I could see it in the post season and each team gets one instant replay per game and that's it.

I also enjoy the human element of it though....through law of averages, teams will have calls go both ways pretty much evenly over the course of a season

Of course. If the technology is there, use it to avoid injustices. One bad call could cost players and owners MILLIONS of dollars.

i dont think there should be umps at all. just hundreds of cameras and sensors hooked to a main computer system. With a giant "max headroom" computer face on a big giant screen calling the shots.

fuck those fucking fuckers.

Great quote, and very versatile.

I think it would fuck everything up

Problem in baseball is that you would have to have be on just a handful of plays.

Never on balls and strikes.

Yes for:
Plays at the plate.
Catches that may have hit the ground.

just a thought

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa -- says the fair weather LA fan...

Its already ruining football

the steeler steel against the chargers, snowday, etc

nanzie panzies

fuck that. I'm tried of instant replay this, instant replay that. Games taking longer and shit. I dont' like it in college football when they use it 6 times a fucking quarter. Do it like the NFL where you can only do it a few times

The issue I have with last night wasn't so much with whether the ball hit the dirt or not. It was how the umpire called it. He clearly rang up the batter. Calling him out. The batter even thinks so as he is heading back to the dugout. Baseball is one of the few sports where the umpire, at times, will make calls by not saying a word. In this case he should have made it clear that the ball was in the dirt so that everyone who needed to react, catcher and batter, would have a chance to do so.

The only way I would go for instant replay in Baseball was if it only involved plays in the field. No balls and strikes bullshit! And if the manager had a limited number of challenges per game. Say two maybe even only one. Adding 5 minutes to a game time for this wouldn't change the flow of probably 80% of the games played. But for those few times that they didn't get it right it would be made so.

Nope. I like the human factor in baseball. Noone is perfect ... that's what makes baseball fun to watch.

You can speed up games by increasing the size of the strike zone.

I like the human element and history as well, but sometimes preserving the history of something only serves to handicap normal, expected development.

it would've certainly have helped the angels out if they had instant replay last night. it would just slow the game down too much, the game's are already 3+ hours as it is, and people complain about it being boring. Maybe instant replay in the playoffs only after the 7th inning, or something to that effect.

although if Escobar has struck out Crede, last night's game wouldn't have ended the way it did ;-)