titanrick

I'm not sure if you're being serious. The human being umpire isn't going anywhere. He just wears an earpiece that tells him instantly if the pitch is a ball or strike. He still makes the call so the rest of us know. Nothing looks different to the viewer. I agree with you that umps are generally pretty decent at it. But if all that changes is they now call every single pitch accurately the first time, how can anyone be against that? I've never sat down to watch a game thinking, "I can't wait to see which pitches the ump will miss tonight." This isn't some nostalgic part of baseball - it's an annoyance that we always put up with because we had no other choice. Now we do.

May have to splurge for one of these.

I don't know about that. Duran only had one multi-inning effort all year, and then Mattingly wants him to go three? In game one of a three-game series? Was anyone else warming up in the 8th? If the plan was for Duran to get through the "meat" of the order, he had already done that. Riley was hitting 7th. I know you have to think outside the box in the playoffs. And the rest of their bullpen is bad. But that seemed a bit too much to ask and for me, it was a predictable result.

I'm curious what you mean by a negative unforeseen impact on how the game is enjoyed.

I still would love for them to go full ABS and do away with all the missed calls. No one would even notice a difference because the ump gets instant feedback in an earpiece and just calls every pitch correct the first time. But I fear that "baseball" is infatuated with the strategy aspect of this current system and it will probably be years before they go full ABS.

Fair point. I honestly hesitated to add him but decided to do it anyway. Agreed he's a tier below Yount and Uecker.

I can see both sides of this. His at-bats most of the year have been dreadful, between swinging through center-cut fastballs and chasing every slider low and in. When he finally connects, it's a rollover 4-3 putout. It's really hard to watch as a fan who hangs on every at-bat. So, this late in what has been a dreadful offensive year, heading to the post-season with WS ambitions, we suddenly decide to put a C on his jersey? Feels like a cheap ploy to somehow motivate him out of his prolonged slump. Definitely would have looked much better in March. But the other side to this is I've always been frustrated that the players care less than we do. For almost all of them, it's a job and they could be on a different team next year. I'm 54 and live and die every year with the Brewers. So, although I've never swung a bat or caught a ball for them, I'm way more invested emotionally than they are. Look no further than "Greg" Counsell for proof that even the most die-hard Brewer "lifers" can turn on you if the money is right. But I say all this to bring up that it seems like Yelich might be the exception to that rule. You can just tell from his comments and body language that it is KILLING him to not be able to help this club more than he has. The scene with Uecker (who truly was a Brewer lifer) confiding to Yelich his cancer diagnosis must have had a profound impact on him. I also think back to the emotion Yeli showed early in the year when he hit the walk-off home run - very out of character for him. He seems to have started out 8 years ago as "this is just my next stop in my career" and transformed into doing everything he can to give back to the Brewers and the city of Milwaukee. Kind of like he's choosing to be the next Brewer "lifer" in the mold of Yount, Braun, and Uecker. That's extremely rare in this day and age and should be appreciated and celebrated.

I do find that encouraging. Hopefully, he gets one more crack against the Cards, and we see results that match the stuff. It's nerve-wracking thinking of May and Harrison pitching in the playoffs, but I'm not sure what other choices we have. We're going to have some question marks, but so does every other team.

I hope Lake Bachar isn't renamed for his dismal performance.

I'm guessing Murphy's thought process was that the lead was large enough to take a chance there and see if Sproat could right the ship on his own. If he can somehow reset himself, and get out of the inning, it would only help him in the future. Obviously, that didn't happen. But if Murph was taking that chance thinking we can still win the game, he was ultimately correct in that. No way he leaves Sproat in that long if the game were closer.

The 80's baseball cards give me a nice dopamine hit.

Still younger than both NL ROY candidates this year: Stewart and Wetherholt

I hate to harp on his defense, but what is Bunty doing here? He's about three steps away from the base with the ball heading directly to the base. If he stays back and lets the ball travel, we may get Suzuki before he even gets to the bag. It worked out, thank goodness. But this guy's defensive instincts are really lacking. I don't want him playing D in the playoffs at all.

This team has bounced back well before. The 22-0 shellacking didn't help us the next night against the Mariners. I don't trust Gasser, but I'm still optimistic we can split the series.