Tuesday’s game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago White Sox was a back-and-forth affair that saw the White Sox pull out the victory in the bottom of the 12th inning. The game featured some questionable calls, to say the least, from home plate umpire Doug Eddings. Eddings missed a season-high 29 ball-strike calls behind the plate on Tuesday night, with an overall correct call rate of 86.2 percent.
*NEW SEASON HIGH*
Umpire Doug Eddings missed a season high 29 calls in the #BlueJays #WhiteSox game for a correct call rate of 86.2%. This included 6 blown strikeouts. pic.twitter.com/UljFJn2I1A
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) June 22, 2022
Umpire: Doug Eddings
Final in 12: Blue Jays 6, White Sox 7#NextLevel // #ChangeTheGame#TORvsCWS // #CWSvsTOR pic.twitter.com/xF7KTGcGQi— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) June 22, 2022
Umpires are supposed to play as little of a factor in the outcome of the game as possible. While Eddings likely tried to do that, he was not successful. Six of those calls were on blown strikeouts and clearly affected the outcome of the game.
The Blue Jays certainly felt snubbed and that played a factor in what occurred prior to Wednesday afternoon’s game between the two teams.
Blue Jays hitting coach Guillermo Martínez came out for the Blue Jays to give the lineup card to the umpires. Eddings was among the umpires for Wednesday’s game, and Martínez gave him a piece of his mind ahead of the game.
He was subsequently ejected for arguing with the umpires before the game even started in what was a truly bizarre scene.
Guillermo Martínez was ejected during the lineup card exchange before today's game. #NextLevel | @BlueJays pic.twitter.com/MCnd6O8kzQ
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 22, 2022
Many around the MLB world agreed that Martínez did the right thing in defending his players following the questionable umpiring on Tuesday night.
Legendary https://t.co/blU3Z35opy
— Keri L. Kettle (@KeriLKettle) June 22, 2022
#PowerHungryUmps https://t.co/ZHTOUbMfzD
— 𝕯𝖒𝖔 (@JetsPope) June 22, 2022
Man, I watched that game and that strike zone was a joke! Good on Guillermo. This is freaking amazing, I wish I knew what he said lol. https://t.co/AJKymqRuy0
— Brian Danso (@BrianDanso) June 22, 2022
Atta boy Guillermo! Should have handed in this instead of the line up card … https://t.co/PvOUpwLIoj pic.twitter.com/R12m94vt0K
— Dwight Brown (@DBrown7708) June 22, 2022
“Hi guys you suck ok I’m leaving but again you suck bye” https://t.co/vLVb3p6cv6
— Jason Brough 🙁 (@SadClubCommish) June 22, 2022
Umpiring this season has been under a microscope with thanks to a bevy of bad calls and a rising discussion around robot umps in the MLB.
It is certainly hard to get every call right, but Eddings was particularly poor on Tuesday, and it appears that he has taken no accountability for his poor performance. It is that lack of accountability that fans find irritating about umpires in the MLB.
If a player plays poorly, they will get benched or released. If a coach’s team isn’t performing, they will get fired and replaced. But umpires can pretty much perform below average without any repercussions, and that is truly the problem most have had with umpires this season.
Unfortunately for MLB fans, it doesn’t look like things will change for a while, as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that “robot umps” will likely not be coming in 2023.
