There are sports that have just become a sort of filler for when there is nothing else to watch. Baseball is one such sport that fits this description.
During the spring and summer, I love watching baseball.There is nothing better than making the drive to Target Field to take in a Twins game. But as soon as football starts in the fall, my interest in baseball severely declines, especially when the Twins are not in the playoffs.
But this weekend, however, I took the time to watch the MLB’s first ever wild card playoff games. And I have to say, a one game playoff for the wild card is a terrible idea.
I am a fan of the idea of having two wild card teams. It made the postseason race a lot more exciting—Brewers fans got a glimpse of this. To make those two teams play one game to decide whether they move on or not is an injustice.
What happened Friday night during the Cardinals-Braves game at Turner Field illustrates the absurdity of the one game wild card playoff.
For those of you who do not know what happened, Atlanta shortstop Andrelton Simmons came to the plate with the Braves down 6-3 with a man on first and second. Simmons popped up to left field but the ball would fall between St. Louis shortstop Pete Kozma and left fielder Matt Holiday well in to the outfield. However, the left field umpire called the infield fly rule.
Instead of having the bases loaded with one out, Simmons was called out and the Braves had men on second and third with two outs.
The call prompted fans at Turner Field to throw their cups, bottles and garbage onto the field, delaying the game for about 19 minutes as the ground crew tried to clean up the mess.
If I was at Turner Field that night, I would have joined in and thrown whatever I could get my hands on onto the field.
I can say with 100 percent certainty that was the worst call I have ever seen in sports. Yes, that was worse than the touchdown call on Monday Night Football that gave the Seahawks the win over the Packers.
This was the worst call made in sports. It was the most obviously blown call ever. If that play did fall under the infield fly rule, the infield would have to extend about 80 feet past the dirt of the actual infield.
The infield fly rule is there to prevent an infielder from purposely letting a ball drop in the infield that is a routine play (the actual writing of the rule uses the phrase “ordinary effort”) in order to turn a double, or triple play.
Now, I have watched the controversial play a few dozen times now, and there is no reason the infield fly rule should have been called.
First, like I already said, the ball was well into the outfield. Second, Kozma, who was retreating into the outfield to make the play, lost sight of the ball.
By looking at the replay, it becomes clear that he did not know where the ball was going to drop and the play would have not been made with “ordinary effort.”
Third, this type of miscommunication between a retreating infielder and charging outfielder happens quite often in that area of the field. There needs to be a precedent set for this area of the field.
The rule is there to prevent the intentional dropping of the ball to get additional outs. You cannot tell me Kozma and Holiday intentionally dropped that ball.
And even if they did, I do not believe either would have had a shot at turning a double play.
To say the Braves would have come back to at least tie the game if the infield fly rule was not called would be hard to say. I just cannot make that claim.
But that does not change the fact it was the worst call in sports I can remember seeing.
Now, that is enough about baseball, time to get back to watching the NFL.
Was that the worst call you have ever seen? Was it worse than the Sehawks-Packers debacle? Let Matt know what you think at sports@dailycardinal.com
