Oakland Athletics Challenged by Replay

It only took six games for the Oakland Athletics to have a questionable manager challenge that, ultimately, changed the course of the game.

The call came in the top of the 8th inning with the A’s leading the Mariners 2-1. With one out on the board and Austin Jackson on first, Justin Ruggiano hits into a fairly standard double play. The throw to first was thrown in the dirt, however, leaving the sole out at second. That’s where the replay comes into play.

The Mariners challenged that Marcus Semien had not touched second base prior to making his throw to first. Where does the controversy come from? This is a “neighborhood play” which is very common. The neighborhood play is when a fielder makes an out at second and releases the ball before tagging the base, usually in an attempt to avoid the sliding runner. While this, technically, is not an out, it is widely known as an assumed out as long as the fielder was “in the neighborhood” of the base. The rules of instant replay clearly address this situation as a non-reviewable play.

Of course, the rule is written in confusing, legal sounding language instead of simply saying “the neighborhood play is not eligible for review” but it is clearly a reference to the long standing understanding between fielders and umpires.

As I read it, if the umpire feels like there was no threat of collision, the play would be eligible for review but if the umpires judgement was that it wasn’t a neighborhood play, he should have called the runner safe in the first place. Further, the second base umpire, for this play, was between the mound and second base and, from his vantage point, it would be impossible to tell if Semien was touching the bag or not as he was within an inch or two so his “judgement” was originally that the play was an out and he would need to view a replay in order to change that judgement which, as you read above, is not allowed.

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If that last paragraph gave you a nosebleed, you fully understand the confusing, circular logic that accompanies some of these replay rules.

Of course, as luck would have it, with both men deemed safe, Nelson Cruz launched a three run homer and took the Mariners back to the lead.

Instant replay has always been a sore spot with many fans, myself included, and the ambiguous language of some of the rules make it impossible to fully understand what’s eligible and ineligible. This play, coupled with a questionable review of the new “blocking” rule both went against the Oakland Athletics when, by some interpretations of the rule, both plays should have gone in Oakland’s favor.

Over the course of a season, questionable calls and controversial replays will balance themselves out among the 30 teams but they won’t all have game-changing implications like both of these plays had.  If either of these calls had happened in a “meaningful” game, managers would be ejected, protests would be filed and fans would be exploding Twitter with their hate for blue.

The evolution of replay in baseball is young and there is a great deal of tinkering that must be done for it to be an effective part of the game. A clarified codification of the umpire’s expectations would be a great place to start so that everyone was on the same page. As much as I am upset that the umpires reviewed the neighborhood play and turned it over, I am upset for the Mariners for challenging it in the first place. The conversation in the dugout should have been as follows,

“Should we review that?”

“No, the umps won’t review a neighborhood play.”

“Oh, that’s right. I remember reading that in clear, non-ambiguous language in section V, article D of the replay rules.”

But that’s not how it went down.

Ultimately, that call contributed to the game going into extra innings and the Oakland Athletics’ eventual loss in the 11th inning. Before you say it’s “too early” remember that there was one game between the A’s and Mariners last year and that tie breakers go to the season series winner. Every game matters in a division that could have three teams within a game or two of each in September.

And there was also this.