"Please Be a Strike"

MLB umpire Bill Miller pleads with the Automated Ball-Strike System in Scottsdale.

Most of us were focused on the NCAA basketball tournament over the weekend. And that’s probably a good thing for Major League Baseball umpire Bill Miller. Miller was behind the plate Saturday in Scottsdale for the San Francisco-Cleveland spring training game when Giants backstop Patrick Bailey challenged his call on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth inning from Robbie Ray. Miller dutifully announced the challenge to the crowd, before sharing something else – a bit of desperation.

Forgetting to turn off his mic, everyone in attendance, as well as those watching on NBC Sports Bay Area overheard Miller pleading “please be a strike.” His prayer fell on deaf ears with ABS as his call was overturned. I think it’s going to be a long year for the men in blue behind the plate. With technology looking over their shoulders, I can’t help but think that their confidence will slowly, but surely, be eroded. And with other leagues leaning ever more into technology to “assist” with officiating, I also think we just might start hearing calls like this:

“Holding, or at least I’m holding my breath it is.”

“Possibly Pass Interference, I mean it’s possible. It happens.”

“False Start, at least I think that’s true.”

“Personal Foul, but that’s just my personal opinion.”

“Goaltending, that’s what I tend to think anyway.”

“Tripping, maybe. Damn, this one always trips me up.”

“High Sticking, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

“Embellishment. I don’t mean to exaggerate, but I got this one right. Unless I’m wrong.”

Saturday, while we worried about our brackets, poor Bill Miller became the first, but certainly not the last, casualty of a new age in officiating. One where the robots are confident, and humans are just hoping for the best.