MLB world fumes at terrible game-ending strike 3 call

Heading into the ninth inning of Monday’s game with the Seattle Mariners, the Washington Nationals trailed 8-3. They scored once, however, and even loaded the bases, with Jeimer Candelario representing the tying run. Candelario, though, struck out.

The third strike call from home plate umpire Mark Carlson was, at best, questionable.

While Seattle reliever Paul Sewald fell behind Candelario with a ball on the first pitch, his next two pitches found the strike zone. Then, Sewald delivered a 1-2 pitch that was potentially low and certainly outside. Carlson, though, rang Candelario up to end the game.

As the graphic showed, the ball was on the low end of the strike zone, but would have and should have been called a strike — if only the ball was over the plate. But it wasn’t over the plate and it wasn’t close.

While plays on the bases can be challenged, balls and strikes can’t. And even though Minor League Baseball’s use of the Automatic Ball-Strike system has been successful, Major League Baseball does not use it and according to commissioner Rob Manfred, won’t in 2024.

But while robot umps may not be coming in 2024, plenty of fans are calling for them.

It would be bad enough for a call like this to end a blowout, it’s even worse when the hitter striking out is the tying run.

Now, it’s easy to say that everyone on the field makes mistakes. Pitchers hang curveballs. Hitters sometimes swing right over those curveballs. If those guys can make mistakes, umpires should be entitled to make mistakes, too, right?

Well, there are two problems with that argument.

One, if players make enough mistakes, they’re generally not in MLB for a long time. The fact that Joe West umpired more games than anyone in history shows that doesn’t seem to apply to umpires. Two, a player’s mistake hurts him and his team. Not the umpire. Conversely, a bad call from an umpire hurts the players and teams.

If umpires and MLB executives want the calls for robot umpires to end, calls like this can’t happen, especially to end games.

[Photo Credit: Root Sports Northwest]