The Atlanta Braves have had horrible luck with umpires over the last week. Chris Sale was surprisingly called for a balk against the Yankees and was thrown out the next day because of how egregious it was.
There were also a couple of issues from Monday night's game in the first inning. One was the ball appearing to be stuck under the padding in right field. Only for the umpiring crew to call for a review that took 10 minutes. The conclusion being it wasn't stuck (even though it appeared to be), and the runner was awarded second anyway. They didn't have to delay the game so long for that.
This forced Bryce Elder to wait around for 10 minutes before pitching again. Later that inning, Elder appeared to call for an ABS challenge, but didn't get it. It was a bit chaotic with Sean Murphy throwing down to try and prevent a stolen base. However, it seems crazy that no one saw this. It ended up being a game-changing moment.
It makes one thing of all the other times that umpires have had a major impact on the Braves over the years. Trigger warning for the moments ahead.
Here are 4 umpires who have screwed the Braves far more than what happened this past week
Eric Gregg's horrid strike zone dooms Braves in 1997 NLCS
It's hard to forget the absolute garbage strike zone Eric Gregg held in general. However, his performance in Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS may be his most egregious.
The zone heavily favored Marlins pitcher Livan Hernandez, who exploited it the entire game. Atlanta hitters were forced to expand the zone due to horribly wide strike calls. Hernandez struck out 15 Braves that day, largely aided by the terrible umpiring. The game ended fittingly with Fred McGriff being rung up on a ball that appeared to be a foot off the plate. Thankfully, ABS exists now, and this should never happen again.
The infamous NL Wild Card infield fly debacle
This is probably the umpire call every Braves fan thinks of when they consider bad umpire calls. The Braves were doing their best to come back against the Cardinals in the 2012 NL Wild Card game. Umpire Sam Holbrook became one of the most hated men in Atlanta after this.
Andrelton Simmons popped a ball up high in the air that led halfway to the outfield, and the infielder gave up on the play. The ball dropped, and it appeared the Braves would have the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Unfortunately, it was shockingly called for an infield fly despite the obvious fact that it wasn't in the infield.
Instead, the Braves lost 6-3 and missed the playoffs. It's one of those things that makes fans wonder what could have been.
CB Bucknor's horrible performance almost costs Braves against Giants
Bucknor was horrid during a 2024 game between the Braves and Giants. It was a nice pitching matchup between Chris Sale and Blake Snell. It was a scoreless game through nine innings thanks to great pitching, but some poor calls behind the plate also held some weight. Bucknor missed 19 calls during the game, with 14 of them going against the Braves. Luckily, it didn't cost them a win as Atlanta found a way to win in extras.
Ron Gant gets pushed off first base and called out
This is another one that the umpires should have stepped in and overruled in some way. During Game 1 of the 1991 World Series, Ron Gant rounded first base a little too far on a single. He got back to first base despite a throw from Kevin Tapani.
Once the ball was caught, Minnesota first baseman Kent Hrbek physically pulled Gant off of the base. He was called out by umpire Drew Coble, despite this being an illegal play. Gant pled his case, but it didn't matter. He was out; there was nothing he could do about it, and Atlanta went on to lose that game.
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