No matter the purist, nor the fundamentalist or now even the new era can argue that the Chi-Sox have tremendously benefited from 2 bad calls in the post-season. (Im not a Houston fan), but I think its time baseball looked at instant reply possibly for only fair/foul balls, plays like the one in the ALCS and last night. You could please everyone by implimenting it. Leave balls/strikes out/safe alone, but there does indeed need to be a change made to these other on field occurances.

disagree

I hate the White Sox, and i am big time pissed about how lucky they have been with those two plays. But implementing instant replay never even crossed my mind. I personally believe that it has no place in baseball.

as an astros fan the call last night really pissed me off

with that said, instant replay has no place in baseball

the fact is that many of those close calls would still be impossible to judge for sure unless you had a camera on the ball.

Just what baseball needs, more ways to slow down the game!

I think the only reason they shouldn't have it is because the games are long enough as it is. To combat this you put a "shot clock" for pitchers. There's no reason for them to take so long before pitching the ball. And if the batter isn't ready for the pitch it's his problem. 15 second "pitch clock" will save you an hour. Then you can implement replay and not have to deal with all the controversy.

I like how instant replay is used in the NFL, NBA, and NHL. For some reason, I don't think it fits into baseball. Too many times I see a call that everyone is outraged over; I watch the replay and still think it's not all that conclusive. I also don't think you can limit it as easily in baseball. If you're going to have it, you need to use it for everything...foul balls, hit-by-pitch, out/safe, etc. Just wouldn't work.

The White Sox have benefitted, but the umpires didn't give up the grand slam or game winning hits.

instant replay? - no

better umpires? - yes

There's the real problem. MLB umps and NBA refs are neck-and-neck for worst officials in all of sports.

You'd need tougher rules on hitters too. I get sick of Ichiro adjusting himself after every fucking pitch. Guys stepping out constantly to take a deep breath and step back in, etc. Stay in the batter's box.

I hear ya. 10 second batter clock that starts as soon as the pitch is thrown back from the catcher to the pitcher. And if the catcher fucks around you can give him a delay of game penalty as well. The penalty is either a ball or a strike. Sounds good to me. get these games in under 3 hours. Once they do that i'll be more interested in the games. Apparently the ratings for this series is the worst since the Giants/Angels(which was the worst ever). I read that the Rams/Indy game last Monday had over 5 million viewers than game 5 of Astros/Cards. Not a good sign when a huge playoff game is being destroyed in the ratings by the 6th game of the NFL season

I can see your point but I think there are two sides to that coin. The whole point of having an officiating crew in a sport is to get the call right, therefore eliminating the need for anybody to say, "well, that was a bad call but then again that batter/pitcher should have batted/pitched a better game after the bad call was made".

Basically what I'm saying is there should have been no need for the batter/pitcher to have done anything better or different because the call should have been correct in the first place.

And ultimately, we'll never know if instant replay would help or hurt baseball if we don't try it and attempt to refine it. If it doesn't work out, then fuck it, scrap it. But I've watched baseball long enough now to know what the game is like without instant replay. I'd be willing to go for a change.

i'm not

There's absolutely no reason not to try it during spring training. I want the right call, not the one someone guessed because they couldn't see.

I just want to add that I have no problem with a video-based strike zone either. It's not that hard, it's already in use.

you think there are the cameras at spring training games to try this?

They do televise those games, right?
You're telling me the same system ESPN has been using for years couldn't be tested in spring training?

I'm all for replay in ALL sports. You have teams out there killing themselves to win, and to have a game turn on a bad call - when the opportunity to get the correct call is there - seems pretty silly to me.

i was with you on the replay, but here i disagree. as odd as it sounds, part of baseball's charm to me is watching the players figure out what the ump's "strike zone" is for a day - good pitchers figure out where than can give themselves an extra inch or two, et cetera. i realize this kind of flies in the face of a lot of things, but it's one of the things i like about baseball nonetheless.