Cardinals Rumors: Dodgers controversy, latest rotation rumors, and a dream pitching staff

Cardinals Rumors: Dodgers still aren’t happy about this weekend

Saturday’s Dodgers vs. Cardinals game came down to the wire, with a controversial strike call to Mookie Betts handing St. Louis a victory. While Betts and the Dodgers played nice for the most part after that game, Sunday’s outing sent Max Muncy into a frenzy.

Muncy suggested that the Cardinals had spent much of the series bullying the home-plate umpire into making said controversial calls. Yes, I’m serious.

https://twitter.com/stewstilez/status/1660420356023230466

Willson Contreras, the ultimate bully.

Contreras was replaced at catcher just a few weeks ago, only for St. Louis to reverse course and reinstall him part time. You’re telling me that guy has the confidence to sway any umpire in his direction? Heck, he can’t even get his own teammates and manager on the same page.

Thomas Carranante at Dodgers Way had an interesting take on the matter, suggesting that players shouldn’t be influencing said calls one way or the other:

"“Muncy said catcher Willson Contreras chirped at the ump, telling him that he had missed the call, leading home plate ump Nic Lentz to call a strike on the next pitch. Once that happened, Muncy lost his cool, admitting that he took it too far when he approached Emmel at third base…If that was the case all weekend, then there’s absolutely a reason for MLB to be in the know because players cannot be influencing calls. Like Muncy said, whether it was a ball or a strike, it didn’t matter — all that matters was that the calls were consistent so the players would be able to get a grasp on the crew’s tendencies. If they’re flip-flopping, then there’s utter chaos.”"

Muncy noted a previous pitch on a 2-2 count which was called a ball in relatively the same spot. Umpires cannot be perfect, and until we finally receive an electronic strike zone of some sort, this will always be an issue.

This weekend, the Cardinals were the benefactors.