Instant Replay in Major League Baseball

Instant Replay in Major League Baseball

As a sports fan, and a friend of many other sports fans, I know from experience that the one of the most aggravating situation that occurs while watching a game or match is when am umpire or referee blows a call that could determine the outcome of the competition. When this happens, it compromises the legitimacy of the game and enrages fans, especially fans of the team that gets penalized as a result of the mistake. Even fans with allegiance to the benefiting team feel robbed of a genuine sense of success. For such cases when officials’ have to make difficult judgments in the midst of a game, most major sports in America have implemented a replay system to get as many calls correct as possible and be a second, more reliable set of eyes for the officiating team. Instant replay gives video evidence that acts as insurance for everyone involved in the sport against the human mistakes that can be made by referees during live action. The only major sport that doesn’t use instant replay to its full potential is debatably the sport that would benefit from its help the most: baseball.

The current rules in Major League Baseball restrict the use of instant replay very narrowly. Today’s system of instant replay was implemented on August 20, 2008 and limits its use to cases involving home runs only (Kurkjian). More specifically, instant replay can only be used to determine three situations: if a home run is fair or foul, if the ball actually left the field of play or not, or if the home run was subject to fan interference or not. It is very rare that replay is used under the current strict guidelines, and another factor that goes into its use is who decides when to use it or not. Managers and players can argue and ask for it to be used but it comes down to the chief umpire’s discretion as to whether instant replay will be looked at or not. That doesn’t seem to fair that a manager can’t even challenge a decision that could...