Here's some bad news for Major League Baseball: the story early in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday was an instant replay, as opposed to the play on the field.
The cause for the ruckus? A play in the bottom of the second inning, in which Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles hit a ball to right field. Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward threw the ball home, and catcher Willson Contreras retrieved and made a diving tag at Adrian Gonzalez -- whose bottom-of-the-scale speed made it anything but a bang-bang play.
Nonetheless, while Gonzalez was called out in real time, it looked like he was safe on slow-motion replays. Take a look for yourself:
The umpires converged and yet, wouldn't you know it, the ruling stood -- though it was not confirmed. The best guess here is that the umpires decided Gonzalez didn't touch the plate until after Contreras' mitt touched his chin. Whether you agree with that or not ... well, disagreement on this ruling is going to run rampant:
He was safe! Replay system still broke..Same thing all year long! #DontMessItUp
— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) October 20, 2016
His fingers were pointed up. Never touched plate 🤔 https://t.co/Aw0UlmtUoL
— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) October 20, 2016
This is the most fun we've had reading our mentions in about 20 innings. pic.twitter.com/qA5A3wKpeb
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 20, 2016
So yeah, who knows.