"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.



That kick went right where the kicker kicked it, we'll know soon whether that's a field goal but from this vantage point it looked a lot like a kick.