Count Xander Bogaerts among those looking forward to Major League Baseball’s new challenge system for balls and strikes next season.
The San Diego Padres shortstop just wishes it were in place a little earlier.
Bogaerts struck out looking on a pitch that appeared out of the strike zone during the ninth inning of the team’s 3-1 loss to the Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series on Thursday in Chicago.
The call came at a critical time.
The Cubs carried a 3-0 lead into the ninth inning, but Jackson Merrill led off with a home run off Brad Keller to cut San Diego’s deficit to 3-1 and bring Bogaerts to the plate. On a 3-2 count, Keller’s 97 mph fastball appeared to miss the zone low, causing Bogaerts to crouch down in disbelief at the call and Padres manager Mike Shildt to race out of the dugout.
Keller then hit Ryan O’Hearn and Bryce Johnson with pitches. Had Bogaerts walked, the Padres could have had the bases loaded with no outs. Instead, Andrew Kittredge came on with two runners on and one out and retired the next two batters, allowing the Cubs to advance to play the Milwaukee Brewers in the next round.
Bogaerts didn’t mince words after the game when asked about the apparent missed call by plate umpire D.J. Reyburn.
“Talk about it now: What do you want me to do?” Bogaerts said, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s a ball. Messed up the whole game, you know? I mean, can’t go back in time, and talking about it now won’t change anything. So it was bad, and thank God for ABS next year because this is terrible.”
The automated ball-strike system will be implemented in the majors next season after years of testing in the minors as well as during spring training and at this year’s All-Star Game. The MLB competition committee voted last month to give teams two challenges per game using ABS if they believe a call by the plate umpire is wrong.
Thursday’s ending soured a 90-win season for San Diego, which made the playoffs for the fourth time in six seasons. It has not made it past the NL Championship Series during this recent run.
“We had a lot of fun,” Bogaerts said. “We competed with each other. We had guys that got injuries, a lot of guys stepped up. We traded for some really great people at the deadline. … It was fun until today.”
