...oh dear sweet baseball gawds, we are screwed...*groan*
Okay, in order to justify the darkening increase in despair, let's take a moment to go over how this is actually going to work.
1. Each manager gets three challenges per game -- in a way. The first challenge is for the 1st through 6th innings. The other two are used in the 7th through 9th.
1a. If the game goes into extra innings, you don't get additional challenges: the later two must cover everything. Also, if you don't use your 1st-6th challenge, it doesn't carry over into the later innings.
2. You cannot challenge ball-strike calls. Anything else is up for grabs.
2a. The current home run fair/foul replay system is grandfathered into the new one.
2b. Managers may not argue with the umpire on any reviewable call. They are allowed to do so on non-reviewables. (Yeah, go out there and scream about balls and strikes. That always works out.)
3. If you challenge successfully, your challenge count does not drop. In other words, do it right and you get to do it again until you do it wrong. One challenge can become a thousand if the umpires are just screwing up that much.
4. A challenged call comes under video review.
5. All calls are reviewed at a central office in New York City which exists to watch every game, check all the angles, and make a conclusive decision.
6. We're screwed.
You could have a lot of fun rewriting baseball history under these rules. Pennants would change hands. World Series. A few hitting streaks would break and others would have stretched on. Add perfect games to the books while slicing others away. But...
...we're still screwed.
First: Selig estimates each review call can be handled in about seventy-five seconds. Yeah, right. This is going to slow down games. Managers will abuse the system in every way they can, and that includes stalling. Umpire having a bad night? Challenge as much as you can knowing you'll probably get it back. It's the sixth inning and you need to buy some warmup time in the bullpen? Challenge the next thing you see. Challenge, challenge, challenge -- and if you were right on any of them, do it some more.
Second: this takes manager/umpire confrontations mostly out of the game. Poor Billy Martin: change history and he's stuck kicking dirt on a 4G connection. Fewer ejections, no more truly stolen bases... it's a small thing, but it's a shame to lose it.
Third: the most important thing is getting the call right. No argument there. But we're going to have the same problems football does. From this angle, he's safe. From that one, he's out. Does any camera show ball tagging foot? Nope. Time for the best guess! Definitive proof will exist at times, of course -- but even that will be argued, and get ready for 'The league altered the footage to get the results they wanted!' The higher the tech, the dumber the conspiracy theory.
Fourth: are the umpires bolstered by this or shaken? How do we find out? The hard way.
Fifth: it is a Selig thing. Therefore, we must be screwed...
Sixth: see fifth, twice.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
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