No they don't favor, like I said, it's not the first time it has happened.
What a horrible call by an ump who's stationed in the OF, but can't make the call. But he's there to cover he foul line and was in a very bad position. The 2nd base ump was in a much better position, so without the extra 2 ump, the bad call would have never happened.
Umpires do make bad calls, but not only in favor of the home team.
That was a horrible call and it's hard to believe that all of the umpires missed it. I don't, however, think favoritism had anything to do with it.
I didn't like the way the player who supposedly caught the ball reacted. He KNEW he trapped it. His reaction may have had more to do with the call than anything else.
Not in baseball like the referees do in the NBA. But it is a well known fact that umpires do show overwhelming favoritism to the super stars which I never understood, why don't they be 'nice guys' and show favoritism to the players (rookies or others) who aren't super stars. They need it more then the super stars do.
I doubt they did it because they wanna favor a team, but they rather have blown the call because it was kinda an elimination game. It's like Jim Joyce and Gallaraga's imperfect game - you are almost destined to blow the most important calls.
I vaguely recall a study that suggested that umpires, on a whole, did favour the home team, and that it was almost definitely subconsciously.
But "vaguely recall" is not a "yes."
I'm rooting for the Rays in Game 163, and one of the Rays got a base hit, but the umpire called it an out even though the ball bounced on the ground before being caught. Are they showing favorites to the home team? What if it were the Rangers getting the hit and the Rays in the field?
