Major League Baseball has been in a weird state the last several years. A cheating Astros team won the World Series in 2017, followed by the cheating Red Sox team winning the World Series in 2018. The 2019 Astros are suspected to have been cheating but there is not enough definitive proof to make the claim, and getting the 2020 season started during the peak of the COVID pandemic was a mess. With former players publicly coming out and saying they don’t watch the sport they played all their lives, it is seriously a bad look. All of that going on doesn’t help with the fact that the replay system, which is supposed to help the game, has been an embarrassment for the sport.

Yes, having the ability to challenge calls on the field is a great rule.

It should be a part of baseball.

You do not want games being decided by a  bad call so adding the replay system should help with that. So far this year, that does not seem to be the case. Some games have had very controversial endings and it is a terrible look for baseball. Even when the replay system has been reliable, some calls take way too long to get an answer. 

One of the most bizarre endings to a game in MLB history has taken place this season. The Mets were hosting the visiting Marlins. and it was the bottom of the ninth inning, one man out, and the bases were loaded. Michael Conforto was the batter. He had been struggling early in the year to generate RBIs. The count was 1-2. Marlins pitcher, Anthony Bass, threw a 94 mph fastball right in the strike zone that should have ended the game. Home plate umpire Ron Kulpa was about ready to ring up Conforto to end the game, but he stuck his arm out right into the pitch. Kulpa sent Conforto to first base which ultimately ended the game. The umpiring crew went to review the call, but because you cannot argue balls and strikes, the play stood. The Mets robbed the Marlins out of a victory.

This left many baseball fans scratching their heads.

Clearly, there are loopholes in the replay system that need to be addressed.

Another poor call ended up happening during MLB’s primetime Sunday night game between the Phillies and the Braves. In a 6-6 tie, Didi Gregorious was the hitter. He flew out to the left fielder, Marcell Ozuna threw a bullet home as the runner tried to tag up and was called safe. All angles showed that the runner clearly never touched home plate. The Braves challenged the call and the runner was still safe for whatever reason. The Braves ended up losing the game 7-6.

The moral of the story is that throughout the small sample size of games so far, the biggest takeaway is that the MLB replay system is already broken and ineffective. This is unacceptable. Games are coming down to the replay system that should fix the bad calls ultimately, but it isn’t. This is costing teams games, costing sports betting fans money, and overall costing the MLB its reputation. MLB really needs to fix this issue as soon as possible. Expect to hear changes coming to the replay system during the offseason.