Instant Replay In MLB Games…What’s The Point?

It takes too long…

The umps usually get it right anyway…

They haven’t really used replay for 100 years, why now?…

Who cares?  You’re right, and it’s 2012 for Christ’s sake!

Why is it that a regular season game between the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs has 18 different cameras out there to make sure that the right call is made, but MLB has like 3 for a playoff game?  It makes NO SENSE.

16 years ago, Jeffrey Maier became the most famous 12-year old kid in America, when in game 1 of the ALCS, he reached over the right field fence to catch a Derek Jeter “home run”.  He extended his entire arm out over the wall, and knocked it away from Tony Tarasco of the Baltimore Orioles, who was standing at the fence waiting for the ball to come down.

Naturally that homer sparked the Yankees run of 4 World Series wins in 5 years and the rest is history.  So here we are 16 years later and the only time replay can be used is to determine if a ball hit the foul pole or went over the fence.  OK, that’s perfect for what happened in last night’s game 5 of the ALDS.

In the 6th inning of a 1-0 game, Nate McLouth hits a bomb down the right field line that has the entire stadium holding it’s breath.  The mammoth blast seemed like it was in flight for 30 seconds.  The 47,081  fans  (which was the smallest crowd  in 18 postseason games at new Yankee Stadium) had their eyeballs focused on the ball as it descended towards the right field foul pole.

To the naked eye at full speed, the ball looked foul, but the umpires would run underneath the stadium to their secret video room to review the play.  No more than a minute later they popped out and ruled it a foul ball.  But that was strange.  What video were they looking at that gave them such clear-cut visual evidence so quickly?  TBS showed about 5 replays in a row that were of the same angle, but slowed it down.  Still looked foul.  But then they showed a replay that had zoomed in closer on the ball and from a little different angle.

Thanks to the guys over at BleacherReport.com for this great GIF

Nice job umps. There was NO WAY they could have looked at that angle in the amount of time they were in the “secret underground lair”. No way in hell. Does this burn me because it’s the Yankees? Sure, but I’m a BIG stickler when it comes to blown calls. And there is no one else to blame in this scenario than Bud Selig. As commissioner, it is your responsibility to make sure calls are made right. That play was the turning point of the game. Instead of having a tied game, McLouth strikes out to end the inning. 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th is a lot different than 1-0.

This brings me back to when I asked, why a random regular season NFL game has a gazillion cameras, giving the ref every angle possible to make sure the call is right, but MLB can’t put a god damn camera on top of the foul pole for situations like this?  It probably would cost MLB less money to have a camera on top of each foul pole than an umpire in right field and one in left.  We already know that doesn’t’ work.  Especially at Yankee stadium.  Ask Tony Tarasco or Joe Mauer.  I’d put the Mauer blown call video here but MLB has removed it from YouTube.

So I ask again.  What’s the point of Instant Replay in MLB games if they can’t even get that right?