SAN FRANCISCO — It’s always been one of the most murky areas in baseball: What exactly constitutes a check-swing?
Suffice to say, a lot of people were taking a swing at that one Thursday night after San Francisco’s Wilmer Flores was ruled out on precisely that kind of call, ending the Giants’ 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding Game 5 of their NL Division Series.
A hotly disputed call, too.
So how far does a big league hitter have to go with his swing in order for a pitch to be called a strike? Is it when he “breaks his wrists” trying to hold up? Or when his bat crosses the plate? Or when he appears to be trying to hit the ball?
Don’t bother looking for it in the Official Baseball Rules: Amazingly, in the nearly 200 pages that govern Major League Baseball, there’s no mention of how to decide.
Officially, it’s purely an umpire’s judgment.
With a runner on first base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Flores appeared on TV replays to hold up on a low-and-away slider from Dodgers ace Max Scherzer on an 0-2 pitch that missed the strike zone.
Home plate umpire Doug Eddings checked with Gabe Morales at first base — umps at first and third often have a better vantage point on check-swings, and plate umpires routinely ask for their help on such calls.
In Morales’ judgment, Flores swung. Morales raised his right arm for strike three, and the highly anticipated playoff game ended with a whimper.
By rule, judgment calls are not reviewable under Major League Baseball replay rules and there’s not been any movement to change that. Some angry fans at Oracle Park tossed pieces of trash onto the outfield grass.
“Check-swings are one of the hardest calls we have. I don’t have the benefit of multiple camera angles when I’m watching it live. When it happened live I thought he went, so that’s why I called it a swing,” Morales said.
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Morales said he had seen a replay of the last pitch. Asked whether he still thought it was a swing, veteran crew chief Ted Barrett answered.
“Yeah, no, we, yeah, yeah, he doesn’t want to say,” Barrett said.
As for the whole notion of check-swings, Barrett offered this: “We talk about it lot at our meetings because it is one of our most difficult calls and we try to get all on the same page as a staff that we’re all trying to call the same thing. … So there’s some ambiguity there, but we do our best to try to be consistent, so players know what’s a swing and what’s not.”
The play certainly caused plenty of reaction on social media.
A last umpire call like the one we saw tonight, it’s just frustrating for the sole reason that a final decision falls into someone else’s hands; it escapes the chances that I could have of my own effort as a player. But, that’s baseball and the umpires are humans .
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) October 15, 2021
@mlb umpires need to make a living and I know that but that call is ridiculous
— Nestor Cortes (@Cortes_1210) October 15, 2021
A legendary series ruined by umpires. Thanks MLB.
— Brian Witt (@Wittnessed) October 15, 2021
If that check swing strike call proves to be what brings in robot umpires, don’t be surprised. A one-run, winner-take-all game ended by a horrifically bad call — and somehow it can’t be reviewed?
MLB owes it to be better. For the 107-win Giants, that’s just cruel.
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) October 15, 2021
Is it time for robot umpires in MLB? #ResilientSF pic.twitter.com/GuKawn15bq
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 15, 2021
HOW CAN YOU LET THIS SERIES END ON A 50/50 CHECK SWING CALL?!
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) October 15, 2021
Flores did not swing on that. Man, that's awful. Awful way to end. Umpires, terrible.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) October 15, 2021
Giants manager Gabe Kapler said he thought Flores held up in time.
“That’s going to be the thing that is talked about quite a bit and I understand why,” he said.
Said Cody Bellinger, who got the go-ahead hit for the Dodgers in the ninth inning: “The umpire said it was a swing, so it was a swing.”
New York Mets outfielder Kevin Pillar, who once played with the Giants, summed up the entire controversy.
Worst call in sports- the check swing- .. terrible way to end this epic series/rivalry. Pitching is so good got to give the hitter a chance to say NO late.
— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) October 15, 2021
That was a call most everyone could probably agree with.
– With files from Sportsnet
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