MLB umpires need to do better for everyone’s sake
One of the biggest topics in all of sports for a handful of years has been the officials.
Somehow the refs and umpires manage to “cost every team the game,” or in every game “they were paid-off by one of the teams,” or “they have money on the game.”
You would think that with all of their criticism they would get better at their job, but year in and year out they somehow find a way to be worse.
This year’s MLB umpires have set the bar so low that I honestly think I could make it as an ump.
The strike zones are as horrific as ever, they’re literally tossing people out of the game for shits and giggles, and somehow, even with replay review, they’re even getting calls on the field wrong.
Just over a month into the season, the MLB has already had to release several statements about how the umps made the wrong call.
Just the other day, Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs slid into second base with his helmet in his hand, and used the helmet to stay on the base when he slid past the bag.
The umps called him safe on the field, but MLB later confirmed he should’ve been out.
Also the other day, Minnesota Twins star Byron Buxton got injured running to second base, and as he’s walking off the field, the umpire told him to hurry up and get off the field.
Absolutely classless.
A couple of weeks ago, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected just five pitches into the game for doing nothing.
A fan behind Boone chirped at the ump, and he thought it was Boone so he tossed him even though he didn’t say anything.
The ump’s statement the day after was: “I don’t care who said it… I heard something coming from the far end of the dugout. It had nothing to do with his area but he’s the manager of the Yankees, so he’s the one that had to go.”
What the fuck.
There you have it, umps have the right to toss any team’s manager just because they feel like it.
And come on, if every umpire tossed out someone for chirping them on a bad call, there would be ejections in every single game. Yet usually just suck it up and deal with it. They don’t just throw the guy out immediately, so what makes you so special that you do?
It just baffles me that they’re just allowed to be this bad.
They’re literally screwing up in every aspect of their job at every turn.
And they don’t have to answer for it. They don’t get fined or suspended or demoted for these atrocities, and they need to be held in check.
Now to be fair, it obviously isn’t all of them sucking like this. There are still very good umps who are calling games amazingly, but there aren’t enough of them to get the attention off of the blind ones.
Every year we think ‘there’s no way it’s going to be worse than this,’ and then the next year it’s somehow worse.
But I seriously don’t think it can get worse than this.
And it’s ironic to me, because the threat of robot-umps is getting higher and higher each year so you would think they would tighten it up to preserve their jobs, but no, they just keep getting worse.
One can only hope for something to change, and soon.