Written by Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com
It was an awful way to end a game. The Blue Jays went from scoring the tying and go-ahead runs on an error Tuesday night to losing because of a decision made by a replay official in New York, the implementation of a new rule that left most of us confused.
Here’s the thing, though: In Major League Baseball’s view, the Jays’ Jose Bautista actually committed two separate violations — one old and one new — with his slide into Rays second baseman Logan Forsythe.
The ruling was justified, but that does not end the discussion.
Players will need time to adjust to the new rules regarding slides on potential double plays, just as they needed time to adjust to rules governing home-plate collisions. And at some point, MLB might need to clarify the so-called “Utley rule,” just as it needed to clarify the transfer rule and “Posey rule” in 2014.
The Bautista play was unfortunate. Most of us can empathize with the Jays’ frustration, and cringe at the ever-growing power of replay. The umpires on the field made no ruling, and the Rays essentially appealed on a technicality, appealed to the invisible, unidentified bogeyman in New York.
Still, if Bautista had not used his left hand to make contact with Forsythe’s right ankle and disrupt the infielder’s pivot, the Jays would have a much better case.
The Jays could argue that contact is allowed, that Edwin Encarnacion would have been safe at first regardless, that Bautista did not jeopardize the safety of Forsythe and violate the spirit of the rule.
Regardless, the reach by Bautista — which “hindered and impeded the fielder” in the view of the replay official, had nothing to do with the Utley rule. It was a violation of a previous rule, 6.01(a)(5), which states:
“It is interference by a batter or a runner when any batter or runner who has just been put out, or any runner who has just scored, hinders or impedes any following play being made on a runner. Such runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate.”
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