MIAMI — They’re getting the calls right in meaningless spring training games nearby, so why couldn’t they do the same on an epic night for the World Baseball Classic.
A pair of blown strike-three calls helped the United States to a 2-1 WBC semifinals victory over the Dominican Republic on Sunday night at loanDepot Park, the most egregious coming on the game’s final pitch. A full-count slider from Mason Miller to Geraldo Perdomo was well below the knees but the errant strikeout call knocked the D.R. out of the tournament. In an eight-pitch at-bat, Perdomo had fouled off the two previous pitches, both over 100 mph.
Just an inning earlier, home-plate umpire Cory Blaser also rang up star Dominican slugger Juan Soto on a Garrett Whitlock breaking ball that was down.
While fans quickly wondered why the WBC doesn’t already have technology in place to avoid these problems — the same automated ball-strike system that will arrive in Major League Baseball this season — Team D.R. played it cool.
“Those are things that happen,” Perdomo said afterward in Spanish. “Everyone’s human.”
“I don’t want to focus on the last pitch,” said Albert Pujols, the D.R.’s manager. “Obviously didn’t go our way. Disappointed about the way that the game ends, but I don’t want to criticize any of that. It just wasn’t meant to be for us.”
Across MLB spring exhibitions in Florida and Arizona this month and last, in games with much less on the line, pitchers and catchers have had the ability to challenge an umpire’s calls behind the plate. For the first time in the sport’s history, ABS will also be available during MLB’s regular season and playoffs.
When a player challenges a ball or strike, an umpire has to defer to a camera system as to whether the pitch was called correctly or not. The purpose of ABS is to help MLB avoid blown calls in the most crucial situations — moments just like Sunday’s. It wasn’t adopted for this iteration of the WBC, however.
“I would assume it comes in next time,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said of ABS after Sunday’s game. “I’m a fan of it.”
Perdomo too said he expects ABS will eventually reach the WBC.
That might be as soon as the next tournament, in fact. An MLB official who was not authorized to speak publicly said the league has not yet made plans for the next WBC, which is likely to be in 2029, but thinks ABS will ultimately be adopted by then. The league will need approval from the players’ union as well.
That doesn’t assuage the disappointment for Dominican fans, whose team looked like a favorite to win the WBC entering Sunday night. Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks, whose late mother was Dominican, playfully told NBA reporters, “Hell yeah that was a ball, man! That’s some bulls—.”
In the past, new MLB technology has reached the WBC on a delay.
This year’s tournament features the pitch clock for the first time. The last time the WBC was held in 2023, the league was preparing for its first regular season with the clock, just as MLB is now preparing for its first go-around with ABS. But the clock wasn’t yet available for the 2023 WBC.
Introducing new technology for the WBC requires some lead time because the tournament includes competition across four different sites and multiple countries. This year’s version is concluding in Miami, but games were also played in Houston, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Tokyo.
Perdomo said he knew the final pitch wasn’t in the zone.
“Yeah. 100 percent,” he said. “But it’s all right. You know, it’s baseball.
“We know we didn’t lose the game right there. That’s part of the game. I hope we do better next time.”
The Athletic’s Maria Torres contributed to this report.
