Ump Show: Carlos Mendoza gets himself ejected to save heated Juan Soto

Several New York Mets were furious with home plate umpire Emil Jimenez on Monday, but none more so than Juan Soto. Jimenez punched Soto out looking in the top of the third inning against the Padres, sparking an ejection. But it was Mendoza who took that bullet for Soto. As the umpire waved his finger in Soto's face for arguing the final strike call, Mendoza sprinted out of the dugout to get his slugger out of trouble.

Jimenez indeed tossed Mendoza for leaving the dugout, and it's an ejection that Mendoza should wear with pride. Someone had to tell the ump he was having an atrocious night. Keeping Soto in the lineup is much more important than Mendoza being in the dugout.

Emil Jimenez had a bad night behind the plate for the Mets and Padres

The pitch that took out Soto was just outside the strike zone, though Soto might have been more frustrated with a strike well outside the plate earlier in the at-bat.

He was no doubt paying attention when Brandon Nimmo was called out earlier that inning with even more egregious "strike" calls.

I get that some people like the human element, but I don't. The automated balls and strikes system can't come soon enough. Players should be able to trust that a ball is a ball and a strike is a strike. There's no reason a manager should have to purposefully ejected because an umpire can't do their job correctly. Get the calls right or be replaced by robots. It's that simple.

Fortunately for Jimenez, he wasn't responsible for the worst call in MLB on Monday. That distinction goes to Brian Walsh, who set the bar as low as possible with this ball call as the Orioles battled the Blue Jays.

So, hey Mets, it could always have been worse.