AL East Round Up: Under Review

Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to this week’s Al East Round Up.

Yesterday, the Blue Jays won a game that was protested by the Tampa Bay Rays. After a reviewed pick off play, Joe Maddon still did not agree with how the review process was used. For the first year of instant replay, there have been some mixed feelings about the process. Mostly, people are complaining about the length of he process itself. These people usually can be calmed with the idea that they will be getting the call right. What strikes me is just how often the umpires are correct. Their micro-second decision making skills are impressive.

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I have enough trouble deciding on which shirt to wear. Anyway, this week, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the use of replay and reviews over the past little while.

Without further ado, I’ll present you with some instances of reviews and you should decide if you agree with the outcome. Are there some plays that even the crew at MLB Headquarters in New York got wrong? Is there a team who benefits more from reviews? Is there one that seems to lose these reviews often? Feel free to leave your opinion below. Here we go.

Baltimore Orioles

Aside from the REALLY biased commentary in this video, the Orioles were accused of blocking the plate. Initially, I thought they had blocked it, but after review, I’m not so sure. You be the judge:

How about this one?

attempted to score on a grounder up the middle. Again, my initial reaction was that he was safe. Yet, replay changed my mind. What do you think?

Toronto Blue Jays

Here is a play that may be the closest that you’ll see in this post.  I would even hazard to say it was the backyard “tie goes to the runner” kind of play. Take a look:

Here is the play that inspired this week’s AL East Round Up. The major issue here is not the review itself, but whether Buehrle was back in the set position before the challenge was issued.

Betsided

Tampa Bay Rays

While, Joe Maddon’s Rays didn’t get the call in Toronto yesterday, they have had their share of opportunities. Here’s another from this past week. With the visiting Tigers in town, Tropicana Field showed its ugly, dysfunctional self once again.

Max Sherzer had a look of bewilderment as he gave up what looked like a home run to Rays’ hitter Vince Belnome. What is funny, is that Belnome hesitated as he approached 1st base. He didn’t think it was a homerun at first either. He was right.

Boston Red Sox

In a bit of a funny instance, Red Sox Mookie Betts thought he caught the ball. The umpires did not think so. So, in an effort to make sure no one advanced while he argued, he airmailed the ball WAY past home plate, which gave up a run. Not to worry, Red Sox fans:

And, in case you were worried that the Red Sox’ clout in baseball is diminished because of their record, here’s another example of a Red Sox review success. Catcher,

attempted a pick off at first base. The initial call was “safe”. But, like the Yankees, there appears to be a little ‘magic’ on the Red Sox side: