Something incredible happened last night in baseball. For 5 questionable calls last night, the umpires used video replay. Don't remember? You were probably watching the wrong league then. In the Little League World Series, they expanded video replay for plays in the field and it was used 5 times.
Guess what? Three of the five calls were overturned to become the correct calls.
It took an average of 4 minutes (according to an ESPN broadcast). The game wasn't interrupted. There were no arguments.
This could be an important step for baseball. Yes the Little League World Series is not close to professional baseball. However, it gives us an idea of what it would be like to have video replay for close plays in the field. The verdict, at least for last night, is that not only does it work, but it keeps tempers down and it keeps the game on the correct course, which is nice. It brings back (back being used casually, because this was never there) a sense of integrity for calls made during the game.
One of the main reasons this hasn't been introduced in the MLB yet is a worry about if it will disrupt the flow of the game. As long as the review is under 3 minutes, it really shouldn't disrupt the flow of the game too much.
No matter where you stand on the issue of video replay in baseball, its use in the Little League World Series is not only intriguing, it is an important test and one that has to be looked at.
