MLB's Supervisor of Umpires: 'Replay is Coming'

There's been some debate amongst baseball fans and purists about MLB following the lead of the NFL, NBA, and NHL before them by implementing instant replay into the sport for the 2009 season. As of now, the plan is to give the process a trial run during the Arizona Fall League, and then if things go well there, they'll be using it during the World Baseball Classic.

After that, if nobody dies and the world doesn't come crashing to an end as some fear, they'll be using it in MLB games next season. Of course, if you asked MLB's supervisor of umpires, Rich Rieker, he'd tell you that the the trial runs aren't to see if it could work, they're to see how it will work. There's no stopping the runaway train that is instant replay.

"Replay is coming," Rich Rieker, who serves as a liaison between MLB and its umpires, wrote in a chat with the Houston Chronicle's Web site. "If done properly we have an opportunity to set the gold standard in replay, learning from pros and cons from other sports. But we must do so in a fashion that will not delay the game further."

Yes, of course, how could we forget about making sure we don't delay the game. I'm all for instant replay being used in baseball, and I understand why some people are so against it, but I can't stand when people complain that implementing it is going to slow the game down.

Will reviewing a play take any longer than the current process that MLB has in place? You know, the one where the manager runs out of the dugout and starts pointing to the outfield while yelling at the umpire? Then after yelling for a few minutes he walks back to the dugout while the umpires get together and talk about things for a few minutes.

"You see it?"

"Nope. It wasn't in my line of sight."

"How about you?"

"I saw it, but it was too close to call."

"And you? Did you see it clearly?"

"See what?"

"The ball. Did it clear the fence? Was it a home run?"

"What the hell is a home run?"

It goes on like that for five minutes before the crew chief flips a coin and makes a decision. All of that takes less time than checking a replay for 30 seconds? There's absolutely no reason why replay shouldn't be implemented into baseball that makes concrete sense.

This isn't some sci-fi movie where one day the replay machines will turn on mankind and take over the world.

It's just a way to help umpires make the right call, and it's about damn time baseball finally got around to using it.