As time goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that MLB umpires are forgetting that fans come to watch players play, not see umpires make calls.
During last night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, home plate umpire John Libka made that mistake.
With the count 3-2 on Nolan Arenado, Cubs pitcher Luke Farrell threw a pitch out of the strike zone.
Arenado checked his swing and clearly held up, but Libka called strike three on him.
An angry Arenado tried to plead his case, but Libka promptly ejected the slugger.
Even worse, following the ejection, Libka clearly had a smirk on his face.
Nolan Arenado gets tossed 😳pic.twitter.com/216fHTGyn3
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) August 25, 2022
Arenado Tossed
Arenado is well within his rights to be frustrated here.
More and more, umpires fail to realize that fans pay to see the players play their game, not to watch them make calls, which these days are often times incorrect, as was the case last night.
The smirk on Libka’s face says it all, that he doesn’t care about the plight of the players and that he thought it was funny that Arenado was so upset, especially after he blew the call and needlessly ejected him.
The call was clearly wrong, and Arenado had every reason to be upset about it.
Not only do umpires seem to fail to understand that the game isn’t about them, but they also time and again make the wrong calls in key situations.
That is part of the reason why some fans have stopped watching baseball altogether.
Fans and players alike are tired of umpires making such bad calls like this one, as it kills the spirit of the game.
The electronic strike zone can’t come soon enough.
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