It just wouldn’t be baseball without some kind of controversy stemming from the St. Louis Cardinals and the trend continued Thursday night against the Cincinnati Reds after a controversial call had the Red Birds walking off winners.
The ruling couldn’t have come at a better time, with a National League wild card race about as tight as it can get between the Cardinals (83-76), New York Mets (85-74), and San Francisco Giants (84-75).
Although the game mattered little for the Reds, who have been long out of contention for much of this season, the play has huge implications on the wild card picture.
The bottom of the ninth inning started with both teams tied at three runs apiece. With Matt Carpenter on first base and a 2-0 count, Yadier Molina drove a shot out to deep left field. The ball took its first bounce off of the warning track, flew up and over the official wall, and hit the advertising wall just above it, a play that should have been a ground-rule double.
But instead of stopping at third like he should have, Carpenter swung around third and slide into home before the ball came in on a relay from several confused players who had already slowed their delivery home in anticipation of the call.
The game’s broadcasters immediately pointed out that the run would most likely come back, and even as Molina was being interviewed about his “walk-off hit,” he was pointing at the Reds dugout to highlight the confusion and unrest amongst both players and managers.
An instant replay clearly showed the ball bouncing out above the wall, yet the protests from Cincinnati went unheard as somehow all of the umpires had already left the field of play. Even the digital field controller, who sets the markers for outs and runners on the broadcast statline displayed a runner at third and a runner at second, indicating that it was indeed a ground rule double.
But even after Reds managers attempted to track down the umpires, they told the crowd at Busch Stadium that the game was over.
With the intense race that’s currently going on, if the Giants sustain even one additional loss, this could be the nail in their regular season coffin and likewise boost the Cardinals to securing the second wild-card spot.
Bad calls have undoubtedly been made throughout the year and, in hindsight, may have had just as large of an impact on the race, but this close to the playoffs, it seems as though umpires would be extra careful with game-changing reviews – especially those that are obvious to the naked eye.
If it’s poor timing or coincidence that possibly made the call a pivotal turn in the playoff race remains to be seen but for anyone who has kept an eye on the NL Central for the last few decades, it may just look like the kind of “Cardinal Magic” that would make Tony La Russa proud.
Jonathan Powell is the Managing Editor of Outside Pitch MLB and the Milwaukee Brewers writer. Follow him on Twitter @jonathannashhh.
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