The Los Angeles Dodgers are set for a road series against the first-place Atlanta Braves this week, and it’s pretty clear that they were thrilled to get away from the umpiring crew in St. Louis.
The Dodgers dropped three of four games against the struggling Cardinals, and much of the on-field frustration had to do with how the umpires were making calls. In Saturday’s game, the Dodgers saw their chances in the ninth inning end on a missed strikeout call. On Sunday, Max Muncy was ejected after he complained about inconsistent calls and pointed his bat towards the third-base umpire Paul Emmel (who missed the aforementioned call on Saturday night).
Max Muncy was ejected from today’s game after saying something to the 3rd base umpire:pic.twitter.com/V9g9UNCgmn
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 21, 2023
Though the strikeout call on Muncy was correctly called a strike, an earlier pitch in a similar spot was called a ball. He explained that he was especially upset when catcher Willson Contreras complained about a call and then got a call in his favor. Typically, umpires don’t expand their zone when a catcher complains, but Muncy felt that the umpiring crew buckled to the Cardinals catcher all series.
Max Muncy explains the frustrations that led to his emotional ejection. pic.twitter.com/6cXoUR7sRF
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) May 21, 2023
He said:
“I think it was a weekend-long frustration that was building up. For me, it wasn’t about the call. These guys are human. They’re going to call the games how they see it. And to me, that’s a beautiful thing about this game. For me, it was how the calls were happening. The pitch before was almost the exact same location, and whether it’s a ball or strike — I don’t care. He called it how he saw it. He called it a ball. And for the catcher to sit there and tell him that’s a terrible call and he missed and he needs to be better. And then the next one, he gives it to him. That to me was where the frustration was coming from. It felt like that was happening all weekend long. I felt like they were getting bullied, and they gave in to it.”
The Dodgers ended up losing the game, 10-5. According to Umpire Scorecards, home plate umpire Nic Lentz had a decent day behind the plate with a 95 percent accuracy. But Muncy had seen enough.
