| MLB Adopts Challenge Rule |
| By Sally Haase August 16, 2013 Major League Baseball is looking to expand it rules on instant replay in the 2014 season. The biggest change is the fact that managers will now be given challenges. Right now the rule is not in place, but there is expected cooperation from the MLB Players Association who will vote on the new rules at the winter meetings in November. The rules on the challenges are very similar to the challenge procedure used in the NFL. Each team can be given up to three challenges a game. One challenge will be given for innings one through six and two more from the seventh inning to the end of the game. However, if a challenge is used in the first six innings and the challenging team loses the ruling, that team loses one of their challenges in the seventh inning and beyond. In place of throwing a challenge flag, mangers need to verbally notify the nearest umpire that he would like to challenge the ruling on the field. The complete list of possible challenges were not given during the press conference on Thursday with Commissioner Bud Selig but they did say that ball and strikes cannot be challenged and other non- reviewable plays would include hit by pitches because of possible complications for other dead ball issues and runners on the base paths. The reviews will take place from a central location and will likely cut at least two minutes from the average time it currently takes the umpiring crew to review a home run. There will be communication equipment installed in every stadium that will connect to the Advance Media office in Manhattan, New York. There will be a group of umpires and technicians who will review the play and give their ruling to the umpiring crew on the field. I knew this day would come sooner rather than later and Selig seems to have found the right balance on what can be a reviewable play and not prolong the games. The games are long enough as it is, and now they throw the possibility of six total challenges in a game. Yikes. Granted there are baseball games where there is no controversy and there will be no challenges used. Then there are the rare games where asking for a challenge can and will change the outcome of the game. I don’t want to see a very important game or a playoff game lost because of the fact that an umpire missed a call and the challenges can help fix that. As long as the correct call is made either the first time or under the review it will not only keep the integrity of the game, but add more to it. |
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