Challenges

[BradyBunch]

I'm not taking a side in this, but for those honestly, head-scratchingly wondering why Buck is holding on to challenges and being conservative with them, I think you are underestimating the value of a challenge. They are literally Get Out of Bad Umpiring Free cards. Everyone here can appreciate how often umps get it wrong, and how it can literally lose you a game if they do at the worst possible time. We've had seasons before where at the end, I felt in retrospect that umps honestly lost us 2 or 3 games on bad calls that year.

And yes, you can ask a crew chief to look at something if you don't have one available, but it's not 100% that they will. The challenge, however, is going to get a review anytime you can legally play one.

So I get why Buck is hesitant to play one when his replay people look over something and tell him there's less than a snow ball's chance of getting overturned. It is not a minor thing you're giving up.

Play with in the 6th inning. Managers lose right to challenge in the 7th on.

[ChuckS]

Not really sure why you wouldn't challenge or anyone would argue that you shoulddn't challenge there.

I have yet to see a manager really "lose their challenge". Meaning they challenged and didn't win and then weren't given a subsequent one when they asked the umpires to look at it.

I agree, the play probably wouldn't have been overturned but no reason not to try, especially in that situation. It was an ambigious play.

[mdbdotcom]

I just looked at it again on mlb.tv, and in the very first slo-mo replay from Fox it looked like he was definitively safe. Don't know why Buck didn't challenge. Might have changed the game.

[Can_of_corn]

I just looked at it again on mlb.tv, and in the very first slo-mo replay from Fox it looked like he was definitively safe. Don't know why Buck didn't challenge. Might have changed the game.

It wouldn't be on Buck, it would be on the guy the O's have reviewing the plays.