Replay Decisions Continue to Baffle and Frustrate the Athletics

From the first week of the season, the Oakland Athletics have grown increasingly frustrated by replay reviews, which have generally gone against them. The key for the A's seems to be not contesting close calls, but that doesn't seem close to happening.

The Oakland A’s season was six games old when Matt Olson was called out at the plate.

Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado surprised almost everyone, including Rockies’ catcher Tony Wolters, by fielding a grounder with two out and throwing to the plate. Wolters slapped a tag on Olson’s upper thigh. Umpire Jim Reynolds, who didn’t have the best angle, called Olson out.

The A’s requested a replay review, and multiple views from multiple angles that were produced by television showed Olson was safe. Those monitoring the play in New York, somehow decided to go with Reynolds and call Olson out trying to score what would have been the game-tying run.

It was an almost casual postgame comment from A’s manager Bob Melvin that said the A’s had been down this road before.

"Over the years, we feel like we've had a tough time with close calls on replay," Melvin said. "It can be frustrating.”

The A’s lost that call and that game. The season is now 38 games old, two games shy of being two-thirds over, and that will happen with Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Astros.

And as the season has gone along, there have been a number of calls that haven’t gone Oakland’s way. And in the first four games since the A’s had a five-day break following a positive COVID-19 test for pitcher Daniel Mengden, the A’s have had three replay calls. None of them went the A’s way, and all three cost Oakland runs, including Monday night.

Tony Kemp had just doubled home the game’s first run in the second inning, and then with one out, he tried to steal third. He was called out. The A’s challenged the call. The replay seemed to confirm the A’s case. No matter. The out call stood.

“The throw beat me, but I thought my foot got in there underneath the tag,” Kemp said Tuesday. “Replays really aren’t going our way. Now at this point, it’s gotten to where we’re not too optimistic about it when it happens. So, we’re just kind of saying `Hey, if we win, great, if we don’t, whatever.’”

Kemp would have come around to score a run if he’d been safe as Sean Murphy homered moments later.

After three calls going against Oakland in four days, Melvin is getting a little weary.

“You know, it is truly remarkable. It really is,” he said. “I really don’t know what to say. It’s beyond frustrating. There’s so many that they’ve gotten wrong in my opinion.”

Friday saw the A’s take a 1-0 lead when Robbie Grossman’s double scored Matt Olson. The Padres challenged, the call was overturned, and the A’s fizzled the rest of the night.

Then on Sunday, the A’s put up a challenge after Grossman was called out trying to score from third on a pitch in the dirt in the second inning. Some angles were inconclusive, but at least one seemed to have Grossman’s foot touching the plate before he was tagged. The A’s lost that one, too.

Grossman said the video reviewers in New York “were the only ones who thought I was out.”

The A’s can’t do anything about replay reviews. For now, they’re a part of the landscape. What they can do is not get too frustrated.

They can also stop contesting close calls. 

That doesn't seem likely, frustrating as the results have been.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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