After Seung-hwan Oh blew a save tying the game at 3-3, the Cardinals rallied to win with Yadier Molina hitting a walk off double scoring Matt Carpenter from first base. The only problem was the umpires got the call wrong. 

Molina’s ball bounced over the wall and hit the back wall. It should’ve been a ground rule double with Carpenter being sent back to first base, and Stephen Piscotty should have been at the plate with an opportunity to knock in the game winning run. However, that never happened.  The reason is that by the time Bryan Price determined he wanted to challenge the play, the umpires had already left the field. It should be noted the Cardinals did as well. 

As per Derrick Goold, the umpires advised they left the field because the Reds gave no indication within 10 seconds they had the intention of requesting a replay within the 30 second requirement. According to Major League Baseball Rule Replay Review Rule II. D. 1., the 10/30 replay rule does not apply to the last play of the game. In those situations, an immediate replay request is required. 

It does make sense that an immediate request is required because there is absolutely no reason why a manager would wait for word from the team’s replay officials. If you do not request a replay, you lose automatically. With that in mind, a team should want to request a replay immediately. 

Price didn’t mention why he failed to challenge it immediately in his post-game interview. Rather, he discussed how the loud noise prevented them from complying with the 10/30 rule. What is absolutely bizarre is that Price was willing to lose a game on a technicality because he needed to hear from his replay official. 

Even more bizarre and inexcusable was the umpires not knowing the replay review rules. 

The natural reaction is to call for the Reds to protest the game. Pursuant to the protest rules, the Reds have until noon tomorrow to protest as the basis for the protest was the last play of the game. Protests will only be upheld if: (1) the call had an adverse impact on the outcome of the game; and (2) the rules were misapplied. Another way of stating the second part of the rule is judgment decisions made by an umpire are not a sufficient basis to uphold a protest. 

Accordingly, a protest would not be upheld. First, the Reds did not challenge immediately. Second, whether a ball is deemed out of play or not is an umpire’s judgment. As such, by rule, the protest would not be upheld despite the call being patently wrong and it having a profound impact on the Wild Card race. 

With the Cardinals winning, the Mets magic number to clinch a Wild Card spot is still two, and the Giants have a one game lead over the Cardinals in the loss column pending the outcome of their game against the Rockies. 

It should be noted, the Cardinals still could’ve won this game, but the optics are very bad for baseball, especially with Umpire Bill Miller admitting after the game, the umpires got the call wrong. (C. Trent Rosecrans).  

The only solution going forward is baseball adopting an NFL style rule where all scoring plays and turnovers are automatically reviewed. From now on, baseball needs to implement a rule that all walk off runs need to go to replay immediately. It’s the only way to prevent something like this from happening again. 

Unfortunately, changing the rule won’t overturn the call in this game that may have far reaching ramifications in the Wild Card race.