MLB Can’t Get Robot Umps Fast Enough After Brutal Weekend of Bad Calls

Plus, Jalen Hurts is on our September cover.

Good morning, I’m Andy Nesbitt, filling in for Dan Gartland, who is hopefully enjoying his vacation and not paying attention to his beloved Yankees. We’ve got an abbreviated newsletter for you this morning, so let’s get into it.

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MLB has an umpire problem

Major League Baseball has made big strides with its new rules this season to make the game more enjoyable for fans to watch, both at the stadium and at home.

While that has been all mostly really good, there’s one huge problem still bringing the game down way too often—awful umpiring.

We saw more of that over the weekend, led by notoriously bad umpire Ángel Hernández, who had another embarrassingly egregious performance behind home plate in Atlanta on Sunday. Hernández, who shouldn’t be allowed to call balls and strikes anymore, made so many awful calls in the Giants-Braves series finale that fans were once again calling for his job.

Hernández wasn’t the only umpire screwing up over the weekend. Junior Valentine had one of the worst missed calls of the season in Sunday’s Red Sox–Yankees game when he called a pitch that was right down the middle a ball. The call was so bad that Yankees hitter Harrison Bader thought he had struck out looking and immediately started walking back to the dugout, only to realize it had been called a ball and that he had new life at the plate.

There’s an easy fix for this, of course, and it needs to happen ASAP—robot umps.

Fans have been calling for them for years, and it’s feeling like it could happen soon. We’re already seeing it at the minor league level, where umpires are relaying robot calls during weekday games, and, then during the weekends, teams can use challenges on balls and strikes calls.

That needs to make the move to the majors because far too often we’re seeing umpires at the highest level of the game making obvious mistakes that not only make players, fans, and managers upset, but they can also affect the outcome of a game.

Oh, and hopefully the only way Ángel Hernández sees a playoff game this year is if he buys a ticket.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Jalen Hurts is on the cover of our September issue, and Greg Bishop has a great look at the Eagles’ QB, who can’t wait to bring another Vince Lombardi Trophy to Philadelphia.
• Spain won the Women’s World Cup on Sunday, and Clare Brennan writes that it’s time for the country to do right by its players.
• Phillies infielder Bryson Stott used a bat in Sunday’s game that looked like a No. 2 pencil. Seriously, you need to see this.
• NFL fans were totally confused by the new number Ravens defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is wearing this season.
• Matt Verderame and Gilberto Manzano rank the top 100 players in the NFL heading into the 2023 season, but do it in a unique way.
• Bob Harig weighs in on Brooks Koepka’s Ryder Cup hopes, which now lay in the hands of team captain Zach Johnson.
• Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos found a perfect way to celebrate the first anniversary of his meme.