Above you can see the final pitch of the USA-Dominican Republic semi-finals last night in the ongoing World Baseball Classic. That 2-out, 9th inning pitch was called a strike on a 3-2 count, meaning that the Dominican shortstop Perdomo was out, and the U.S. had won a tight 2-1 victory sending it into the championship game against either Venezuela or surprise “Cinderella” squad Italy.
Winning is nice; winning legitimately is better. That pitch was a ball, as you can see. if the umpire had called the pitch correctly, Perdomo would have advanced to first, and the DR’s best player in the tournament, Fernando Tatis, would have come to the plate with the tying run on third base and the winning run on third.
In the 2026 MLB season that starts soon, the new ABS system will be underway. After a botched call like that one, the batter will touch his cap and say “Challenge!” and the image of where the pitch was relative to the strike zone will flash on a screen, showing that the umpire was wrong, reversing the call.
No baseball game, especially an important one, should end on a terrible call like the one that eliminated the Dominican Republic team. If this doesn’t convince the bitter-enders and “traditionalists” who oppose getting ball and strike calls right when the technology exists to do so, nothing will.
UPDATE: ESPN’s Jeff Passan just posted,
“That was a wonderful baseball game. Tension. Drama. Passion. Pride. Everything baseball can be. Everything you want baseball to be. So, for it to end on a called strike three by home plate umpire Cory Blaser on a Mason Miller slider that was clearly below the zone was such a gut punch, not just to the Dominican Republic players, whose country cares more about the WBC than any, but to a game that deserved better. ABS cannot come soon enough because this should be about the quality of the game, which was tremendous, and not the bitter taste left due to human fallibility.”
Ethics Alarms 
Well, I watched much of that game, but wasn’t wearing my glasses so I couldn’t tell even as well as the umpire whether it was a ball or strike. I figured they weren’t using ABS or there would’ve been some talk about it during the game.
It was an exciting, tense game and yes, it didn’t deserve to end on a botched call.
Being contrary, though, what if they had been using ABS but the Dominicans had already used all their challenges? Then they’d have no recourse either, unless you’re expecting the US catcher or pitcher to challenge the call.
I take your point. It’s a good one. I look forward to seeing how ABS works out this year. I don’t think it’s a panacea, but perhaps it can be a step forward. I anticipate it will be refined after this year, as well.
The ball may have sunk a bit by the time it hit the catcher’s glove. That would put it in the strike zone where the batter was standing. I don’t know about these things, but I do know how to bamboozle judges of pie eating contests. It’s actually kinda tricky. Good thing that wasn’t televised.