Frustration with MLB umpires growing again after series of heated confrontations

It seems every season there’s a point where frustration with umpires starts to boil over.

We might have already reached that point this season following a series of heated confrontations that culminated with members of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants calling out the umpiring crew from their series.

Specifically, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said he felt disrespected by Wednesday’s home plate umpire Tony Randazzo after disagreeing with his strike zone.

So, how long before the managers end up screaming at robots?

Cubs and Rockies stars let out frustrations with ump-charging meltdowns

After meeting in the National League wild-card game last season, the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies have both gotten off to disappointing starts in 2019.

On Saturday, the frustrations of both teams seemingly boiled over as Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber and Rockies All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado got into heated confrontations with umpires over perceived missed calls.

Schwarber was the decisive batter during Saturday’s Angels-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. With the bases loaded, two outs and the Cubs down by one run, Schwarber stepped to the plate against Angels closer Cody Allen in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Schwarber worked the count full, then attempted to check his swing on a pitch in the dirt. The struggling Cubs slugger thought he held up. Third base umpire Gabe Morales disagreed. Morales rang Schwarber up on the appeal, which sent Schwarber into a fit of rage.

Do you think that these players would be brave enough to charge a RoboUmp?

MLB umpires missed 34,294 ball-strike calls in 2018, study shows

“”(T)hroughout its history, MLB has protected its error-prone umpires, resisted adopting strong performance measurements, and not taken advantage of available technology that could better the game. At a time of autonomous cars and machine learning, MLB needs to embrace useful change. … Given how MLB is heavily dependent on performance statistics when evaluating players, it is surprising the league has been sluggish to apply similar rigor to umpire hiring, promotion, and retention.”

Are Baseball Umpires Wrong As Often As Fans Think They Are? Yes, One Study Says

Baseball is back, and fans can anticipate another season of amazing catches, overpowering pitching, tape-measure home runs – and, yes, controversial calls that lead to blow-ups between umpires and players.

Home plate umpires are at the heart of baseball; every single pitch can require a judgment call. Yet ask any fan or player, and they’ll tell you that many of these calls are incorrect – errors that can affect strategy, statistics and even game outcomes.

Just how many mistakes are made?

Comprehensive umpire performance statistics are not readily known, tracked or made available. Major League Baseball doesn’t seem interested in sharing the historical data.

A consideration of how well umpires actually call balls and strikes- the formatting is a bit off, but it makes for a very interesting article indeed.

My week at umpire school, where everyone wants a thankless job

I’m blowing it.

I can sense Dana DeMuth’s disappointment, and there’s nothing worse than disappointing Dana DeMuth, whose 35-year tenure as a big-league umpire earned him the dubious privilege of helming this cage session. I can’t really see his disappointment, though, because my grossly oversized umpire’s mask keeps nudging my glasses further and further down the bridge of my nose.

Not being able to see also makes it difficult to determine whether a pitch is a ball or strike. And, as I’ve learned in the last few days, that’s already pretty damn hard.

Here’s what it’s like to umpire the longest postseason game in MLB history

LOS ANGELES – Moments after he’d put one last baseball into play, watched that fly, then stayed just long enough to ensure Max Muncy completed his journey, Ted Barrett, the plate umpire for Game 3 of the World Series, was offered for his first meal in many hours the choice of steak or fish.

“I had both,” he said.

Not 15 hours later, he was again in a room behind the Dodgers dugout with his five crewmates.

In case you’re curious to know what it feels like to umpire a seven-hour baseball game….

NFL reportedly fires down judge in middle of season

In an unprecedented move, the NFL has let one of its game officials go in the middle of the season.

First reported by FootballZebras.com, NFL down judge Hugo Cruz has been fired for performance reasons.

Cruz was responsible for a big mistake in Week 6 when he missed an obvious false start by Chargers left tackle Russell Okung on a scoring play against the Browns. He didn’t work in Week 7 and according to ESPN, there was no indication Cruz was involved in any off-field incidents or that his firing was in any way disciplinary.

Not baseball related precisely but interesting to see a sport terminating an official during the season for poor performance.