Spring Training: Umpires end Orioles vs Pirates game early, but both teams wanted to finish, calling the game themselves
The Pirates beat the Orioles yesterday in Spring Training, but not before the umpires called the game early, which resulted in the teams to continue to play and call the games themselves.
The umpires decided to not stick around for the bottom of the 9th inning after the game was already over, so the managers from the Orioles and Pirates decided to keep the game going and finish out the bottom half of the inning, allowing the catcher to be the one who called balls and strikes behind the plate.
Umpires Leave, Orioles and Pirates finish game anyways
Credit to the Orioles and Pirates continuing to finish out the game. Both teams probably want to get their teams and prospects some extra playing time so at that point in the game, it makes sense to just finish and keep things moving.
Plus, you have a bunch of fans in the seats who traveled down to Florida to watch some baseball for the first time in months. Finishing the game was the right move. No question about it.
Honestly, this is a bad look for umpires. Not that I give a shit about a Spring Training game or the fact that they actually left when the game was already over, but when you’re in a heated battle to save your jobs against robot umpires, leaving a Spring Training game seems like a bad business decision.
There’s no better case to replace umpires with robots than to continue playing baseball after they all leave a baseball game before it’s technically even over, right?Â
Orioles manger Brandon Hyde and Pirates manager Derek Shelton played the game out and let the catch call balls and strikes with a little help from the broadcast crew which was fantastic. After watching the bottom of the 9th, I would actually prefer if all MLB games were this way. Get rid of the pitch clock nonsense and umpires entirely and let’s just let the boys handle it.
The result was the return of America’s past time, sandlot games, and just good old fashioned summer baseball vibes.
Stay Up To Date on All Things Phillies Spring Training Here >>
Join The Chase
