Ump Show: 3 bad calls that impacted the MLB Playoff picture this week

There were some big calls made by umpires in some important series this week that could have playoff implications.

This past week saw some very important games, including many head-to-head matchups between MLB playoff teams or playoff hopefuls.

Those include White Sox vs. Mariners, Orioles vs. Blue Jays, Twins vs. Yankees, Rays vs. Yankees, Guardians vs. Twins, and Dodgers vs. Padres. In those series alone, there were a few umpiring calls that could end up impacting the playoff race.

Here are the worst three incidents from the past week.

3 umpiring moments that could impact the MLB playoff picture

3) Orioles vs. Blue Jays for a few different reasons

For this instance, it’s not necessarily a bad call but just a bizarre series of events that lead to an ejection.

The series between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays had a number of weird incidents. They had bench-clearing ‘brawl’ over nothing and then in the next half inning, interim Blue Jays manager John Schneider got ejected over a called strike … which was correct.

On the evening, home plate umpire and crew chief had 95.7 percent overall accuracy … but the calls that he did miss favored the Blue Jays a lot. They favored the Jays by more than 1.5 runs … and the Jays still lost 9-6.

Really, this was just a dumb ejection that happened after a number of run-ins in the series between the Jays and this umpiring crew this season (as the above video indicates).

2) Dodgers vs. Padres extra-inning strike call prevents a walk

The Dodgers and Padres faced each other this past weekend. The Dodgers are well on their way to making the postseason as they have a 20-game lead on the Padres for first place in the NL West. The Padres are likely going to the playoffs this year via the Wild Card but considering that they and the Phillies are within 1.5 games of each other entering Monday, their seeding is far but certain.

On Friday, the clubs were tied at 4-4 entering the 10th inning. With the runner on second base to start the inning, Dodgers All-Star outfielder led off the inning. He worked the count to 3-1.

He got ball four from Padres reliever Adrián Moréjon … but home plate umpire Jim Wolf called it a strike.

Instead of getting a walk and having two on with nobody out for Trea Turner, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith, Betts had a 3-2 count. On the next pitch, he flew out to right field. The Dodgers did not score in the inning. The Padres scored in the bottom half of the inning to win the game 5-4.

Overall on the evening, Wolf had a 93.1 percent overall score, per Ump Scorecards.

1) Back-to-back wrong strike calls in a huge situation for the Yankees, Twins

To start the week, the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins faced each other in New York. The Yankees won the first three games of the four game series after they had been reeling for much of the last two months.

The Yankees are trying to hang on the AL East title for dear life and the Twins are trying to desperately stay in the playoff picture in the extremely weak AL Central.

The Twins had a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning but the Yankees loaded the bases with one out for infielder Gleyber Torres. He worked a 2-0 count … but he had two consecutive strikes called against him by the home plate umpire and crew chief Larry Vanover.

Torres ended up striking out. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa grounded out after him to end the game without scoring. With that, the Yankees lost and the Twins won so those two strike calls could loom large.

In the game in general, it would have been a tie game if both were called balls so, at minimum, the game would have gone to extra innings.

Overall, Vanover had a 93.1 plate score for the game, per Ump Scorecards.