World Series Game 2 ended on a check-swing strikeout — should check swings be reviewable?
Game 2 ended about as dramatically as it gets: Brewers up 5-4, tying run on third, two outs in the ninth, and Yandy Diaz struck out on a check swing. The home plate umpire did not think Diaz went around, but the first base umpire ruled he did on the appeal, and that was the ballgame — Brewers up 2-0 in the series. The rulebook does not even have a rigid definition of what counts as a swing, so it is pure judgment in the biggest moment of the season. Baseball already reviews almost everything else — safe/out, home runs, hit-by-pitch. Should check swings be reviewable too, or at least challengeable like in tennis? Or is this one of those human-element calls that has to stay human, even when it ends a World Series game?
1 answer
- Challenge-based review, two per game
Make it challenge-based, not automatic review. Give each manager two check-swing challenges per game, lost only if the call stands. That solves the actual problem from Game 2 — a season-ending judgment call with no recourse — without turning every 3-2 count into a five-minute replay break. Tennis and the NFL both show that a limited-challenge system keeps the game moving while catching the howlers, and the replay angle for a check swing is actually one of the clearest in the sport: the bat either crossed the plate or it did not.