MLB Panics In Continuing Wake of Terrible Calls

Before the start of Game Five in the ALCS between the Yankees and the Angels, Major League Baseball filtered out word through multiple 'people with knowledge of the decision' that the league will buck tradition when assigning the umpiring crew for the World Series this year. Baseball has this antiquated rule that umpires cannot work back-to-back rounds of the playoffs, so while the decision of who officiates the playoffs is technically merit-based, there are some qualifications to that rule. Two dozen umpires were chosen to work the first round of the playoffs – six for each series – and another dozen umps were picked to call the two League Championship Series. Wanting the best umpires calling the biggest games (World Series), it stands to reason that those calling the LCS contests are not, per se, the cream of the umpiring crop this season.

But MLB hasn't changed that rule – yet. Instead, the league is relaxing the unwritten rule that the World Series crew will include at least one umpire officiating his first Fall Classic. After the barrage of missed calls, the rookies are out. Per the AP:

Stung by a rash of blown calls in the playoffs, Major League Baseball is breaking tradition and sticking with only experienced umpires for the World Series.

Longtime crew chiefs Joe West, Dana DeMuth and Gerry Davis, along with Brian Gorman, Jeff Nelson and Mike Everitt will handle the games, three people with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press this week.

In 24 of the last 25 World Series, the six-man crew has included at least one umpire working the event for the first time - baseball likes to reward newer umpires, plus replenish the supply of umps with Series experience. In each of the last two years, there were three new umps working the World Series.

The AP goes on to explain that CB Bucknor was in line to be a first-time World Series umpire but has been removed from the championship round after blowing two calls in the LDS between the Red Sox and Angels. Truth be told, Bucknor has been a sub-par umpire for years. In 2006, he was picked as the worst umpire in the league by a survey of 470 players conducted by Sports Illustrated (this information has recently been removed from his Wikipedia entry, by the way).

Ironically enough, the 2006 poll reported that Tim McClelland was the best umpire in the league – by a landslide. Yet McClelland – who parenthetically has worked four World Series in his career – missed two obvious calls at third base in Game Four of the ALCS, one of which was a tag up play he later admitted he didn't see, but "in my heart, I thought he left too soon."

Look, umpires make mistakes and with TV cameras in every nook of the stadium, it's impossible for them to do their jobs when replay can obviously do it better. Let's get this one thing clear, however. MLB isn't breaking with the tradition of having first-time World Series umpires on the championship crew because of the terrible calls, and spinning this decision as that seems like another panicked, reactionary decision by Bud Selig and company.

The AP story lists the following umpires who have missed obvious calls in the first two rounds: Phil Cuzzi, Jerry Meals, Dale Scott, McClelland. Cuzzi and Meals have never worked a World Series. Scott and McClelland have combined to work seven. Is a younger, less experienced umpire more prone to miss calls in big spots? Perhaps. But a case can be made that a 57-year-old umpire with nearly 27 years experience has proven to be unable to keep up with today's pace of play as well.

Perhaps a case can be made that Bucknor is just a terrible umpire. Framing this decision by using his 'World Series rookie' status as the reason to pull him off the crew seems unfair to the rest of the good umpires who have yet to work a Fall Classic. MLB better hope that the reported crew of Joe West, Dana DeMuth, Gerry Davis, Brian Gorman, Jeff Nelson and Mike Everitt – who, by the way, have combined to work 12 World Series, yet none as many, individually, as McClelland – aren't as mistake prone as some of their baseball brothers in blue.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.