2025 CWS, Scores & Discussion

That OSU-Louisville game was a good one.

 

I am hoping for Murray St vs Oregon St finals

 

Root=Filthy!! Change up is nasty. Definitely going to be a first round pick.

 

Bacon bits down 3-0 after 2 innings.

Woo pig!

 

Well no one has mentioned this so I feel like it’s time—a CWS game the magnitude of Arkansas vs LSU and they draw Jeff Head as their HP umpire.

How sad.

 

His brother Richard had a schedule conflict.

 

Seniority plays, regardless of merit.

In terms of pulling Root hard to really argue seems like something Sully would've done as he's got a quick hook in the postseason. Gaeckle certainly gave the Hogs a chance but Anderson was nails. Really shows how 1 inning can ultimately be the difference in a game, LSU is loaded hard to argue with them as the favorite. Arkansas does have the pitching to come back and minus Gaeckle everyone should be available next few days.

NIL era shoring up the bullpen seems like easiest "fix" for teams. Long reliever at an SEC school (especially one with first class facilities, fan support like Arkansas, LSU) seems better than starter at a lower tier school.

 

I wonder how they select the umps for the World Series? It seems like they would have some type of evaluation process during the regular season and those rated the highest would get picked. Just doesn't seem like Head and his crew would be rated high enough to make the cut.

 

I’m with you @ocalaman on a rating/scoring system but apparently that’s not what they evaluate by—if they evaluate at all. I’m starting to believe it’s merely a straight seniority issue.

Seniority is fine and should be a good evaluator—but alone it does not eliminate the dead wood.

 

Jeff Head's a great target, but it's all of college umpiring, honestly.

Standards for umpires in professional baseball have gone up. AA/AAA strike-zone accuracy first, then down through the minors while simultaneously demanding better base calls (via replay, etc.) starting in the MLB as well.

Consider this 2023 list of the worst 10 umpires in MLB. Of the 10, 8 of them made The Show before 2000 (many around the time of the 1999 mass resignation/labor action) and the other two were both in 2010. (There are other lists, but this is close to the "usual suspects".) 10 Worst Umpires in Major League Baseball

Where are the lousy umpires who got promoted in the last 15 years? Well, there's the rub -- they didn't get promoted, they got weeded out. Pro baseball players, pro umpires, and tenure-track university faculty -- up or out! While many of those umpires go do something else for a living and maybe ump high school or stay around baseball in some other way... there's also the college game.

College umpiring standards have not gone up and a couple-few pro washouts falling into our game each year have built up like a damn hair clog. Lower ball-strike standards? Check. Lower base call standards, esp. backed up by replay? Check. Lower expectation to treat players with reciprocal professionalism (You're the adult on the field! They're a child! The player doesn't "deserve" respect.)? Check.

The quality of the players in D1 college baseball is probably the best it has even been. But the umpiring -- attention-seeking blind clowns. Biggest problem in the game, IMO.

 

Haven’t watched a pitch because for some reason there is no coverage in the Bahamas . Thanks for the updates Horns ! You are close to the rarified air of Gator Gal
By the way I’m missing putts here just like I do in Daytona . $475 to play at the Ocean Course on Paridise Island. Ouch

 

Is $475 all inclusive, that is include a caddy and all the beverages and balls for the day.

 

That's $6 a stroke for you.

 

Fixing ego driven umpires could be done relatively easy. It just takes a little backbone.

Grade them on their performance of their job. If a HP umpire grades out at 87% then pay him 87% of his pay rate. If an umpire in the field grades out at 95% (or 100%) then pay him accordingly.

You start affecting their paycheck and it will no longer be so much
“their strike zone” as it will be the rule book strike zone.