Major League Baseball 2018 Season Thread

[Hiromi]

More I see the Altuve home run/fan interference controversy the more it looks like the umpire and replay blew it, a reverse Bartman situation

[BeastieRunner]

Man, I really wanted to see Brewers/Houston. Astros need to get off the schneid and Brewers need some magic.

[Malvolio]

More I see the Altuve home run/fan interference controversy the more it looks like the umpire and replay blew it, a reverse Bartman situation

Yeah. The ball hit the outside of the outfielder's glove, then the fan's hand, then the glove again, before going back onto the field. But it was the OUTSIDE of the glove and if the fan's hand had not been there, the ball goes over the wall. Home run.

[DungeonmasterJim]

Of all people David Price outdueled Verlander who has been exceptional in elimination games.

I was just hoping the Red Sox could win a post season series for a change and now they are back in the World Series.

Woo-Hoo! Go RED SOX!!!!

[MRP]

Yeah. The ball hit the outside of the outfielder's glove, then the fan's hand, then the glove again, before going back onto the field. But it was the OUTSIDE of the glove and if the fan's hand had not been there, the ball goes over the wall. Home run.

It would have hit the inside of the glove if the fan hadn't hit the glove and forced it closed. But if the ump got it wrong, replay had a chance to fix it. They didn't. Did replay get it wrong, maybe, maybe not. Bad calls have been part of the game since the inception. Replay won't fix that. But replay had the time to look at it and couldn't see conclusively enough to change the call made on the field. It is what it is. The Astros benefited from some really bad ball/strike zones in game one that would have been changed if replay of balls and strikes were allowed. It's not. You live with the calls and you play the best you can and try to overcome them. It's a game played by humans, officiated by humans and with it comes the imperfections of humans. The only way to eliminate human error is to take humans out of the game, and then, what's the point?

Personally, I think the Astros deserve every bit of bad karma they get for selling out and trading for Osuna while he was suspended for domestic violence.

-M

[Hiromi]

thing is given that Bett's arm was clearly extended behind him, and his back was against the wall, that means his glove was clearly beyond the wall where the play would have been made, MLB is clear that if you go beyond the wall it's at your own peril and fans are free to make a play provided they don't make contact with anything on the in play side of the wall, so them touching his glove or not is irrelevant as it looks to have happened on the fans side of the wall

might not have meant anything though given that Boston won tonight anyway, that's baseball.

[MRP]

thing is given that Bett's arm was clearly extended behind him, and his back was against the wall, that means his glove was clearly beyond the wall where the play would have been made, MLB is clear that if you go beyond the wall it's at your own peril and fans are free to make a play provided they don't make contact with anything on the in play side of the wall, so them touching his glove or not is irrelevant as it looks to have happened on the fans side of the wall

might not have meant anything though given that Boston won tonight anyway, that's baseball.

If replay had a clear view of that, then they should have changed the call, but they don't see still photos, only the video feeds from the parks, and from the video feeds shown on the broadcast (which is what the replay booth has to work with) it was debatable whether his arm was in the field of play or over the wall when initial contact with the fan was made, which is why they let the call on the field stand. Still photos of the play are irrelevant in the replay process unless that is a screen capture from one of the broadcast videos used and not a photo taken from an independent photographer from an angle not available to the replay booth. And even from that photo, the guys in the white shirt is definitely leaning over the wall into the field of play as his left hand is on the wall and his chest and other arm are in front of him and if he is, it is likely the guy in the orange is too based on their relative position to each other as his hands are in front of the guy in white. The guy in gray and red are not over the wall, but orange is and he looks to be making contact with Betts. All in all it's muddled even form the stills and the replay footage was even more of a mixed bad. There was not enough conclusive proof to overturn the call. Did West get it right? Who knows. He could see someone leaning over the wall and others not, and someone made contact with Betts. Was it the guy leaning over or not? Who knows and in a split second you do the best you can, and have replay as a safety net, but in this case even the video wasn't clear. It is what it is, i.e. the human element in baseball.

-M

[Deathstroke]

Heck yeah! Go Red Sox!

[DungeonmasterJim]

This particular photo doesn't clear anything up to me. Betts's body looks in front of the wall but his glove does not. Gray clad and orange clad fans look over the wall. The ball does not look over the wall and in the field of play.
One thing from the still pictures about the orange clad guy bugs me. Who tries to catch a ball with their hands crossed at the wrists with the left hand palm pointing away from the incoming ball. In another still I saw it looked like the guy was purposely try to shove Betts's glove out of the way. I'm not a mind reader so I don't know if that was the guy's intent or not. Maybe the guy in gray hit orange guy's left arm. And the guy with the orange lettering clearly has an expression that says he doesn't want to suffer an injury while trying to do something about the incoming ball.

But that's part of the fun about a controversial play, the debate will always rage on.

[MRP]

Brewers hold home court and force a game 7 in their series against the Dodgers. Brewers came out strong in the first and held on to win game 6. Still anybody's series.

-M

[Hiromi]

impressive how hard they ambushed Ryu, which no one had been able to do as of late

Dodgers now find themselves in a game seven tommorow with Buehler pitching, whose been rocked pretty hard this post season in his two starts, and the Dodgers had to go deeper into their bullpen than the Brewers did, wonder if Kershaw is rested enough to pitch innings if they need him

[MRP]

Dodgers and Sox in a World Series pseudo-rematch (the Babe Ruth led Red Sox played the Brooklyn Robins in the World Series, the Robins would become the Dodgers a few years later). MLB must be happy that two of the bigger TV markets are in the series.

-M

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

thing is given that Bett's arm was clearly extended behind him, and his back was against the wall, that means his glove was clearly beyond the wall where the play would have been made, MLB is clear that if you go beyond the wall it's at your own peril and fans are free to make a play provided they don't make contact with anything on the in play side of the wall, so them touching his glove or not is irrelevant as it looks to have happened on the fans side of the wall

might not have meant anything though given that Boston won tonight anyway, that's baseball.

Dude look at the picture lol. Betts back isn’t against the wall. The fan in the white shirt clearly has one hand on the fence and is leaning over. It’s impossible for that extended hand not to be over the fence.. and all the other hands fans are FURTHER than his.

Either way Betts catches that ball if the fans aren’t there

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Dodgers and Sox in a World Series pseudo-rematch (the Babe Ruth led Red Sox played the Brooklyn Robins in the World Series, the Robins would become the Dodgers a few years later). MLB must be happy that two of the bigger TV markets are in the series.

-M

MLB had to be rooting for this match up.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Dude look at the picture lol. Betts back isn’t against the wall. The fan in the white shirt clearly has one hand on the fence and is leaning over. It’s impossible for that extended hand not to be over the fence.. and all the other hands fans are FURTHER than his.

Either way Betts catches that ball if the fans aren’t there

Doesn’t matter in the end. Boston still won the series going away.