The first game of the New York Yankees–Los Angeles Dodgers matchup in the World Series got off to a slow start Friday night, but it wasn’t without some early controversy.
MLB umpire Carlos Torres, who is working home plate in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, got his World Series debut off to a questionable start, to say the least. In the first inning, Torres called a strike on Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty’s pitch to Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. even though the ball appeared well outside the strike zone.
Terrible strike call by the umpire here pic.twitter.com/xTjlMvUU8x
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 26, 2024
Torres’s strike zone continued to baffle fans, even as Fox analyst John Smoltz said that it would be “a hitter’s strike zone tonight.”
Then, when Yankees’ Gerrit Cole took the mound early in the game, Torres called a ball and then a strike on two nearly identical pitches. Take a look for yourself:
ball. strike. pic.twitter.com/BLvXeGwkQV
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) October 26, 2024
MLB fans were far from impressed.
He called a few strikes as balls too. Inconsistent strike zone. Cole going to get frustrated over it.
— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) October 26, 2024
And the announcers didn’t even say anything. It was so far outside
— Dan Gregg (@dangregg_) October 26, 2024
He’s just up there guessing
— Bronx Hawk (@Yankee_Hawk) October 26, 2024
Hitter friendly umpire my ass
— Jack Pinstripe (@JackPinstripe) October 26, 2024
At least Torres is consistently inconsistent? The rest of the game could feature plenty more controversial calls as the MLB ump continues to build what appears to be a so-so report card.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as MLB Fans Rip Ump for Awful Strike Call in Game 1 of Yankees-Dodgers World Series.