Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced recently that the long awaited expanded instant replay review system will actually go into effect when MLB gets underway in March. There will be a few trial runs during the Spring Training season but all MLB games will employ the new system for the 2014 season and into the foreseeable future.
The biggest change will be that the people doing the reviewing will not be there at the ball park but working from a central office in New York City called the MLB Advanced Media Headquarters which will be staffed by MLB Umpires charged with making the calls.
The Umpires on the field will not view the replay monitor nor have any part in the final decision. They will simply be informed what the decision is without ever having to leave the field or go under the black cloth to view a screen.
Many of the standards will remain the same. It will be necessary that the review show clear and convincing evidence in order to overturn a call on the field, just like it is now. Home runs that were previously reviewed will still be reviewed if the Crew Chief calls for one without requiring a challenge.
At the beginning of the baseball game, each manager starts with one challenge in his pocket. If any portion of the challenged play is overturned, he gets to keep the challenge but he can only use it one more time.
Any challenge must come verbally from a team manager to the crew chief of the umpires and must be done in a timely fashion. MLB says that it will further define timely fashion before the season actually gets underway.
If a manager has used his challenge (or challenges) before the beginning of the seventh inning and something controversial comes up, tough luck. Those are the rules. Once the seventh inning is underway, the crew chief may decide to invoke the instant replay if he thinks that it is warranted. He does not, however, have to listen to the team manager concerning the challenge.
Each team will be allowed a video specialist in the clubhouse, which is up near the press box, to help decide whether or not to challenge plays. The team manager will have direct communication with the video specialist but there will not be any monitors allowed in the dugout. Each team, both home and visitor must have equal access to this set up no matter where the game is played.
