Padres’ Xander Bogaerts can’t wait for automatic strike zone after season-changing call
Xander Bogaerts can’t wait for the automated ball-strike system.
The Padres’ shortstop went off when talking to reporters after he was called out on strikes on a 3-2 count on a ball that appeared to be below the strike zone with San Diego down 3-1 to the Cubs with nobody out in the ninth inning on Thursday at Wrigley Field.
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“Talk about it now: What do you want me to do?” Bogaerts said when asked about the strike call, via The San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s a ball. Messed up the whole game, you know? I mean, can’t go back in time, and talking about it now won’t change anything. So it was bad, and thank God for ABS next year because this is terrible.”
After Bogaerts struck out, Chicago right-hander Brad Keller hit the next two batters, Ryan O’Hearn and Bryce Johnson, meaning the Padres’ could have had a bases-loaded, no-out situation with the game on the line had home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn made the right call – or if Bogaerts had a challenge.
Instead, the Padres put runners at first and second base with one out before the Cubs’ Andrew Kittredge came in to close out the game, sending Chicago to the divisional round.
Major League Baseball will give hitters, pitchers and catchers a chance to avoid situations like Bogaerts’ on Thursday next season.
Last month, the league’s competition committee approved the ABS system, aka robot umpires, for the 2026 season.
Teams will be given two challenges each game and will retain them if they’re successful.
Challenges will only be able to be initiated by a pitcher, catcher or hitter by tapping his helmet or cap immediately after a pitch.
The system has been tested at Triple-A since 2022 and at various levels since a year before that.
That doesn’t help the 2025 Padres, though, who fell short of a World Series berth in their fourth postseason appearance in the last six seasons.
“We had a lot of fun,” Bogaerts said. “We competed with each other. We had guys that got injuries, a lot of guys stepped up. We traded for some really great people at the deadline. … It was fun until today.”
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