MLB moves to expand video review

Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday that Major League Baseball (MLB) planned to expand its video-review process next season, giving managers a tool they've never had in an effort to dramatically reduce the number of incorrect calls made in games. If approved, the rules would take effect in the 2014 playoffs.

Other major sports already use the technology, including the National Football League, the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association.

The proposal, which Selig called "historic," would increase the number of plays that can be reviewed by MLB officials. Currently, rules limit reviews to calls involving home runs or determinations of whether a ball went out of bounds.

Under the proposed system, managers would be allowed one challenge over the first six innings of a game and an additional two from the seventh inning onward. If a manager wins an appeal, he retains the challenge, though a challenge from the first six innings does not carry over to the later part of a game.

Not all plays are reviewable. Those that are will be examined by umpires at MLB headquarters in New York, where technicians will be available to provide the necessary video.

Baseball umpires navigate a thicket of rules and procedures, and their decisions can make or break a team's chances of winning.

In 2009, a controversial call rocked the American League Championship Series when an umpire ruled one Yankees player safe and another out in the same fast-paced play. Critics said both should have been called out, according to the Bleacher Report.

In 2010, an umpire dashed the hopes of Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga to throw a perfect game when he ruled a player safe who was actually out at first base. The umpire later apologized for his mistake, according to Fox Sports.

"Reviewable plays will cover 89 percent of those incorrect calls that were made in the past," said Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholz, who formed a replay committee with former major-league managers Joe Torre and Tony La Russa to examine the change.

After the committee presented its findings to the MLB on Thursday, Selig told a news conference in Cooperstown, N.Y., that he "couldn't help but sense in the room the acceptance and excitement."

"People understood they were sitting in on something that was historic," he said. "In the last 25 years the sport has changed a lot, and I think for the better. This was something we did very carefully."

The proposal will be voted on by team owners in November. A 75 percent vote by the owners is needed for approval, and the changes must also be negotiated with the Major League Baseball Players Association and the World Umpires Association. Both unions back the move, according to The New York Times.

Sessions to train umpires in the new system will begin in the Arizona Fall League this winter and continue into spring training.

"We know we have to prepare people for this," Schuerholz said. "Everyone is embracing it. We believe managers will in time."

One of Selig's major concerns was the possible slowing of games. "We want to prevent stalling," Schuerholz said. "If it's a reviewable play, [the manager] has to tell the umpires he's going to review it."

With a direct line of communication between the central office and the ballparks, Schuerholz said the expectation is that replays under the new system will take one minute, 15 seconds. Current replays average just a little more than 3 minutes.

Al Jazeera and wire services