Re: Toronto Blue Jays
I don't think this needs its own thread but did anyone see the controversial review and call last night in the 5th inning? For those wondering I'll set the stage:
Bases loaded, 1 out. Batter hits a deep fly ball to Granderson in LF, Granderson is under it, runners all go back to tag. Granderson jumps at the wall, ball goes off his glove, runners take off. As Granderson is falling to the ground he catches the ball, runners then go back to tag up. Ump calls batter out. Runner on 3rd is most important, because he left the bag, then had to go back to tag 3rd, he did not have time to tag and score so he stays on 3rd. Granderson relays the ball into 3rd. Donaldson catches the ball while standing on 3rd.
Ruling on the field: Batter is called out, runners could have advanced on tag-up but due to leaving early they do not, no runners advance.
White Sox ask for a replay: Replay shows that the ball went off the top of the wall before Granderson caught it. Thus, the batter is not out. The umpires award all runners 1 base.
Here's my problem: All of the runners were returning to their bases before the ump made the "out" call in LF. The runners actions of leaving the bag and then returning were not affected by the call but by their base running instincts and assumptions that Granderson made a catch. Now the White Sox did not do anything wrong relying on the incorrect call of the ump, but the Jays did not do anything wrong either. If the ump had made the correct no-catch call then given the position of the ball and the runners I think it was likely the Jays make a force-out at either 2nd or 3rd base. You see this happen from time to time with a flair to shallow outfield, runner on 1st does not want to get doubled up and a CF traps the ball and gets a force at 2. Granderson was holding the ball on the warning track and both runners who were being forced had not left their bags, it likely takes a second or two for them to realize they need to advance.
I never heard a satisfactory explanation for the call. Presumably the umps thought that if no-catch was called all runners would have advanced one base or simply assumed they get a bag.
If I was reviewing the call I would have called the runner advancing to 3rd out on a force. I would likely have scored the runner from 3rd and advanced the runner from 1st to second and batter to 1st.
There is also an argument to be made that the runner advancing to 3rd is out via force and that the runner previously on 3rd stays on 3rd, because he would not have advanced to home on a no-catch call, he can now stay on 3rd as Donaldson eliminated his force by stepping on 3rd before tagging the runner. Then the runner on 1st goes to 2nd and batter safe at 1st. Result being: no run scores, bases loaded again, 2 outs.
Anyways, weird call that I think MLB got wrong. Once you start assuming what players would have done and where runners would have ended up had a correct call been made you need to consider the relationship of the ball and runners immediately prior to the incorrect call.
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR