After Just Four Games The KBO Demoted An Entire Umpiring Crew To The Minor Leagues After Some Shitty Balls And Strikes Calls
HELL YES! The KBO knows they're in the big leagues now. ESPN is televising one game a day on their platform while idiots like me are also watching random games on Twitch and other sites to get our baseball fix. This is the most exposure their league has ever had and they need to make it count. So what did they do just a few games in? They publicly announced the demotion of an entire 5 man umpiring crew to the minors because they missed a few balls and strikes behind the plate. Not like a critical call at the plate to decide a game. Not a play at first that led to a huge crucial inning. Nah, just a bad zone. Incredible. We're FOUR GAMES into the season! This is clearly a cruel publicity stunt because from what I've read they never publicize this info, but hey you know what? It's working on my dumb brain. This is awesome and Major League Baseball needs this kind of system.
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Hanwha outfielder Lee Yong-kyu spoke out after one of his games about the umps and that clearly got the attention of upstairs.
"Even though it's only been three games this season, a lot of players are really unhappy with the lack of consistency on ball-strike calls," Lee said. "I'd like to ask all the umpires to please be more considerate of the players. We're all very confused (with the inconsistent zone). I know the umpires are doing their best out there, but I just hope they should start seeing things from the players' perspective, too."
I'm guessing these were the kind of calls he was talking about.
Still, four games in. Few bad balls and strikes calls and that's it. Minor leagues. Imagine Major League Baseball did this? Angel Hernandez would be calling Tee-Ball games for 4 years olds. Joe West would be doing the regional games for the LLWS. These guys would never see the light of day ever again. We so desperately need this accountability in Major League Baseball. Now of course this will never happen in the MLB because the umpires are part of a strong union. In Korea there is no union so these guys are on their own and obviously get fucked over easily like this, but still.
Imagine the NFL did this? The NBA? We can only dream. The KBO doesn't give a fuck and I love it. NC Dinos 4-0 baby.