Umpire ejects the Cubs manager for arguing a ticky tack rule, a breakdown
What Happened
In a Mets and Cubs game, PCA was on first, ran on a 3-2 pitch that became ball four, slid into second, and was initially treated as safe before New York challenged the play. After review, the umpires ruled that he initially contacted second base, lost possession of the base, and was tagged while losing possession, so he was out. The Cubs manager argued that the umpire had said the ball was dead, called the ruling “terrible,” and was ejected.
Why This Matters
PCA steals second on ball four, slides in safe, then gets overturned on review for a phantom tag while losing the base. The Cubs skipper loses it arguing the ump said the ball was dead, gets tossed for calling it 'terrible,' and honestly he might have a point here.
This weird rulebook nightmare hit 293K views and cracked the top 1,200 all-time Jomboy breakdowns, proving people love a good umpire meltdown almost as much as they love arguing about what 'possession' actually means.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Jordan Baker, Simeon. Teams: Cubs.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThis play in the Mets and Cubs game had
everyone talking. Everyone talking about
the rules, the situation, what's going
on. We've got PCA on first base. The
Mets are aware. They're trying to keep
him close. This one's brought to you by
Create. Try to back pick him. He's safe.
They thought they were going to have
him. The catcher's like, "Ah,
thought we had him." But first base and
the Mets aren't getting along right now,
nor any of the other infield positions.
But anyway, PCA looking to steal one-1
pitch high 2-1 pitch. Check on him,
pitcher. Yep. Yep. Okay. They're worried
about him getting second base. We got a
foul ball. We've got a 2-2. Now it's
three and two. And he's off and running
on the 3-2. It's ball four. He slides in
and the umpire doesn't say anything cuz
it's ball four, right? He gets the bag
and he said, "Can you check it?" Yeah.
Can you check it? Yeah. He's got to put
his hand up. You know, we want to review
things. Umpire, put your hand up to let
us review things. Umpires get together
and they're chatting. They're like,
"Yeah, well, I guess we can review it
cuz yeah, he slid and then he was
tagged." Then he had the base. They're
all talking and PCA is like, "Uh, what
guy in the crowd's like, "You're out,
dog. Umpire is going to address the
crowd. Let them know what's going on."
>> New York is challenging the safe call at
second base.
It's a walk. You see PCA is confused.
The announcer's like, "It's a walk. What
are they talking about?" Well, here it
is. He's out. He slides in. He's safe.
What matters? What does? He says, "He
literally told me ball four's dead."
That's what he said. PCA is like,
"What?" He's watching the replay. He's
looking up. He's What are you talking
about? I'm going to second base. Umpire
says, "Nah." After the review, the
runner initially contacts second base,
loses possession of the base, and is
tagged while losing possession.
Therefore, the runner is out. The call
is over third loses.
>> Look at Simeon's face. He's on the other
team, but even he's like, "Oh, dog.
I don't know, man. What are these guys
doing?" Turns out they're doing just
fine. There's a lot of examples that
make this make a ton of sense. But
before I show you those, let's just
watch counsel because he is mad. He's
just You just told me that. You said it
was dead.
You said it was out at first, then you
said it was dead. What's going on?
Jordan Baker told us umpire in the
league. He's looking on, overseeing,
overlooking, and he's Oh, that's [ __ ]
ridiculous.
That's [ __ ] ridiculous.
That is [ __ ] terrible.
That is [ __ ] terrible.
That's ridicul That is [ __ ] terrible.
And now he's ejected. He's like, "What?
You got to be [ __ ] me. That is
[ __ ] terrible. That's not the [ __ ]
rule." He's out. He's out. What did you
call him?
He's out. The ball is dead. [ __ ] you.
[ __ ] you. [ __ ] you. And he's ejected and
he's gone. All right, let's take a look
at examples. We poured through game
footage from the past to find out what's
going on here. And this is an example of
how you can't get tagged out on ball
four. You are entitled to second base.
So, here's just one example. It was ball
four. There was a a base runner was
stealing. They threw down to second,
tagged him out. No, that's easy.
Everyone understands that rule. Now, why
is it not a dead ball? Cuz this happens
quite a lot. The ball gets thrown and
the runner gets to stand up and run to
third. If you want it to be a dead ball,
then you wouldn't have this. And this is
is pretty common. Like this doesn't look
foreign to anyone, even though it's ball
four. Sometimes the catcher hears ball
four and they get a little jarred and
they sail that thing. Now, because it's
not a dead ball and it's a live ball, if
you were to see this happen, your brain
wouldn't blink. you would go, "Uh, Elvis
Andrews, where are you going? It's a
live ball." And even he's like, "Damn."
Okay. And he gets tagged out even though
it was ball four. So that makes sense.
That's why the rule exists. Sometimes
rules exist and then they get applied in
tickytacky ways. And in 2023 in this
Cubs Giants game, Mag gets tagged in the
dick and they say, "You're out." And
he's like, "What?" And then they say,
"No, we're going to challenge it cuz
they overruled it." They said, "No, he's
safe." And then they challenged it and
this like it was ball four. He slid past
and he went back. Same thing, same exact
play, same exact thing. He gets tagged
in the nuts and then he's off the bag
and then he gets tagged on the hand
right there. And it's as if he touched
second base and continued running just
like what Elvis Andrews did in that one
I showed a second ago where he gets in a
rundown. So, it's the same thing. Now,
when it happened in 2023, it didn't even
make it to my radar, anyone's radar, I
don't think. They said, "Yeah, we
checked it. he's out. And they explained
it to the manager and he was like, "So,
because he ran past then, okay, okay, I
get it. I'm not going to yell and
scream." So, this one didn't make
headlines. But I was like, "Wait, 2023
Cubs. 2026 Cubs. There's got to be the
same players on the same team." So, we
took a look at the starting nine and
we've got three guys. Ian Hap, my dude,
Danzy Swanson, Seya Suzuki, you guys
were all on the field when this happened
last time. I wonder if Happer was like,
"Yo Craig
this happened to us already.
Chill. It's They're right. They're
right. I tried to call Hap, but he's
playing professional baseball, so he
didn't answer. Maybe he'll text me and
say, "I did tell Craig that." Or you
say, "I forgot." Because no one made a
big deal out of it. So, when you really
boil it down, it's a tick-tack call. All
the calls where you touch and barely
bounce off second base are tickytac
calls. But the applica the rule
exists for a reason and they applied the
rule properly and this has happened a
lot before and no one seems to care. So
there you go. That's the breakdown.
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