Little League World Series uses instant replay

[young guns]

You also forgot stuff like ball position and clock time that go into nfl replays as well. The way I would do it with men on base, is just have it be like a ground rule double. Maybe have a line, either in the grass or invisible, call it the double line, a certain distance from home plate where you would say if the ball landed here, the avg play would be a double. And if the disputed play happened in front of the line, then its a ground rule single, all base runners advance 1 base, and if it happens behind the line its a ground rule double and all base runners advance 2 bases. If a ball is ruled caught, but was trapped and a runner is picked off as a result then its a non-play. A base runner should not be punished for reading the play correctly, even if the ump didn't. If it's ruled not caught but was caught everyone goes back to their original base, with the exception of tagging up. Base runners aren't going to be venturing far anyway because they know it might be caught, and the ones that do are probably because there are 2 outs and its a non issue anyway. If a player would have successfully tagged up if the ruling had been correct, they get their base. It wouldn't be too hard to see that just use one of those side by side replays of the runner and fielder to see if he stayed and if hes tagged out he stays tagged out. I think that covers all scenarios, and wouldn't be all that hard to implement. The real question would be, is it gonna be like college where a booth initiates all replays, or like the nfl where the managers would get challenges? I'm in favor of having a booth controlling all the replays though. Why should a team be punished for umpires continue to blow calls in the other teams favor?

[RockCoCougars]

Football and baseball are entirely different. Most calls in baseball wouldn't take nearly as long to review. Football you look at things like, "Where are his feet? Does he have possession? When does his knee hit the ground? It's not clear from that angle, how about a different shot?"

 

With some things, I agree. Fair/foul balls, plays at first, etc. However, I'm still not sure if that Pirate catcher missed the tag on the Braves baserunner after watching it dozens of times. At the same time, these plays should be easier to call on the field as well, as long as the umpires are competent and positioned right. In football, the play can happen pretty much anywhere on the field, and there's no guarantee that the official will have a good view of it.

[pebadger]

You also forgot stuff like ball position and clock time that go into nfl replays as well. The way I would do it with men on base, is just have it be like a ground rule double. Maybe have a line, either in the grass or invisible, call it the double line, a certain distance from home plate where you would say if the ball landed here, the avg play would be a double. And if the disputed play happened in front of the line, then its a ground rule single, all base runners advance 1 base, and if it happens behind the line its a ground rule double and all base runners advance 2 bases. If a ball is ruled caught, but was trapped and a runner is picked off as a result then its a non-play. A base runner should not be punished for reading the play correctly, even if the ump didn't. If it's ruled not caught but was caught everyone goes back to their original base, with the exception of tagging up. Base runners aren't going to be venturing far anyway because they know it might be caught, and the ones that do are probably because there are 2 outs and its a non issue anyway. If a player would have successfully tagged up if the ruling had been correct, they get their base. It wouldn't be too hard to see that just use one of those side by side replays of the runner and fielder to see if he stayed and if hes tagged out he stays tagged out. I think that covers all scenarios, and wouldn't be all that hard to implement. The real question would be, is it gonna be like college where a booth initiates all replays, or like the nfl where the managers would get challenges? I'm in favor of having a booth controlling all the replays though. Why should a team be punished for umpires continue to blow calls in the other teams favor?

 

This proposed system is biased in favor of the offensive team. In the case of a blown call to the detriment of the offense, runners will be able to advance. In the case of a blow call to the detriment of the defense, the play will be deemed "dead" at the point of the blown call, with no opportunity to make further defensive plays. Indeed, you're willing to make assumptions that even if the play was made runners may be able to advance anyway.

 

In any event, there is a whole lot of subjectivity in this system. It seems more than a bit counterintuitive to me to say the "We need a more objective way of making close calls, but the only way to make the system work is to inject a healthy dose of subjective after-the-fact conjecture."

 

As for "ase runners aren't going to be venturing far anyway because they know it might be caught": Have you seen the (insert-a-team-here) baserunning this season?

[young guns]

This proposed system is biased in favor of the offensive team. In the

case of a blown call to the detriment of the offense, runners will be

able to advance. In the case of a blow call to the detriment of the

defense, the play will be deemed "dead" at the point of the blown call,

with no opportunity to make further defensive plays. Indeed, you're

willing to make assumptions that even if the play was made runners may

be able to advance anyway.

I just tried to come up with a system that was the most fair. The reason they would be able to advance is because they would be able to advance anyway. With a runner on third whether its caught or it falls in, the runner can run home. I'm basically the rules they already have set up and applying them to new scenarios. Is there a specific scenario that you don't agree with?

 

In any event, there is a whole lot of

subjectivity in this system. It seems more than a bit counterintuitive

to me to say the "We need a more objective way of making close calls,

but the only way to make the system work is to inject a healthy dose of

subjective after-the-fact conjecture."

 

That's what replay is though. It's correcting a mistake and then trying to figure out what would have happened without the mistake.

As for "ase runners

aren't going to be venturing far anyway because they know it might be

caught": Have you seen the (insert-a-team-here) baserunning this

season?

 

I'm not sure what you mean here. From what I see on plays like this, players will go about half way where they can make it to the next base if it falls, but back if it's caught with players on third usually hanging around the base so they can tag up and score if need be.