Controversial Call Ends WBC Game Week Before MLB Robot Umpires Debut

On Sunday night at loanDepot Park in Miami, one of the most electrifying baseball games in recent memory ended not with a swing, not with a diving catch, but with a called strike three that wasn't a strike. Home-plate umpire Cory Blaser rang up Dominican Republic shortstop Geraldo Perdomo on a full-count slider from Team USA closer Mason Miller — a pitch that broke well below the strike zone — to seal a 2-1 American victory and eliminate the Dominican Republic from the 2026 World Baseball Classic [1][2].

"I knew 100% it was a ball," Perdomo told ESPN after the game [3].

In ten days, MLB will debut its Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System on Opening Night. Had that technology been in play on Sunday, Perdomo could have challenged the call. The pitch would have been reviewed in seconds. And the game's final out might never have stood.

The Ninth Inning That Broke Hearts

The semifinal was everything international baseball promises to be. Junior Caminero launched a solo home run off Team USA ace Paul Skenes to give the Dominican Republic a 1-0 lead — their 15th homer of the tournament, a WBC team record [4]. The Americans answered with solo shots from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony to take a 2-1 lead into the late innings [5].

By the ninth, Miller — the San Diego Padres closer who touches 101 mph regularly — took the mound to protect the one-run lead. Perdomo, batting with two outs and the tying run on third base, fought through a grueling seven-pitch at-bat, fouling off consecutive 101-mph fastballs to stay alive and run the count full [3][6].

Then came the 3-2 slider. Miller's 85-mph breaking ball dipped well below Perdomo's knees as it crossed the plate [7]. Perdomo held his bat. Blaser punched him out.

The crowd of 36,337 — overwhelmingly pro-Dominican — erupted in boos [3]. Perdomo stood frozen at the plate. The Dominican dugout emptied in disbelief, though no formal protest was possible. In the WBC, there is no challenge system for ball-and-strike calls [2].

Not the Only Missed Call

The Perdomo strikeout was the night's most consequential blown call, but it wasn't the only one. In the eighth inning, Juan Soto — one of baseball's best hitters — was called out on strikes on a 1-2 slider from USA reliever Garrett Whitlock that missed the bottom of the strike zone by a clearly visible margin [7][8]. That call ended a potential rally with the Dominican Republic trailing by one run.

Social media reaction was immediate and furious. One widely shared post captured the sentiment: "They really ended the most hyped baseball game of all time on a strike call 6 inches below the zone" [7]. Former MLB star and broadcaster Alex Rodriguez said on the postgame show, "You just hate to end a game this big, with these type of consequences, on a pitch that's not a strike" [2].

Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz was diplomatic but pointed: "It's part of the game. You lost by inches." He then added that he hopes ABS will be instituted in future WBC tournaments [3].

Ten Days and a Technological Divide

The timing of this controversy is almost too perfect. On March 25, when the New York Yankees visit the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park for MLB's Opening Night — the first-ever live MLB broadcast on Netflix — the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System will make its official debut [9][10].

Under the ABS system, batters, pitchers, and catchers can challenge ball-and-strike calls by tapping their helmet or cap. Sony's Hawk-Eye camera system, integrated with T-Mobile's 5G network, tracks the ball with accuracy within one-fifth of an inch and delivers a ruling within seconds [10][11]. Each team starts with two challenges per game and retains a challenge if successful.

The system represents the culmination of years of Minor League testing that began in the Florida State League in 2022, progressed through Triple-A in 2023 and 2024, and was approved by MLB's 11-member Competition Committee in September 2025 [10][12]. During 2026 Spring Training, teams averaged roughly four challenges per game with a 52.2% overturn rate — meaning umpires were getting it wrong more than half the time when players felt strongly enough to challenge [10].

Had this system existed at the WBC semifinal, Perdomo could have challenged Miller's slider. The technology would have confirmed what every replay showed: the pitch was below the zone. The game would have continued with a full count and a chance for the Dominican Republic to tie or take the lead.

Why the WBC Doesn't Have ABS

The absence of ABS at the World Baseball Classic isn't an oversight — it's a logistical challenge. Implementing the system for the tournament would have required calibrating individualized strike zones (based on each batter's height) for players from all 20 participating nations, and deploying Hawk-Eye camera infrastructure at venues in Japan, Puerto Rico, and the United States [3].

The WBC is governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, not MLB, and operates under international baseball rules that predate the ABS era. Unlike MLB Spring Training, where the system was battle-tested before going live, there was no equivalent trial period for international play.

Still, the controversy has created immediate pressure. Cruz's call for ABS at future WBC events echoes a growing consensus that high-stakes international baseball cannot afford to lag behind the domestic game on officiating technology.

The Broader Umpiring Problem

The Perdomo call isn't an isolated incident — it's a symptom of a well-documented systemic issue. Research from Boston University analyzing nearly four million pitches found that MLB umpires made over 34,000 incorrect ball-and-strike calls in a single season, averaging roughly 14 missed calls per game [13]. While accuracy has improved steadily — Statcast data shows umpires calling 92.8% of pitches correctly in 2023, up from roughly 88% in 2008 — the error rate rises dramatically in high-leverage situations [14].

When batters have two strikes, the error rate nearly doubles to 29%, according to the same research [13]. This is precisely the scenario Perdomo and Soto faced: full counts and two-strike counts in the late innings of an elimination game, where the margin for error should be smallest but human error is statistically most likely.

Source: FanGraphs / Boston University / Statcast

Data as of Mar 16, 2026CSV

The ABS Challenge System doesn't eliminate human umpires — it gives players a tool to correct their worst mistakes. During Minor League testing, TruMedia data showed challenge success rates hovering around 49%, and Spring Training data in 2026 showed catchers and pitchers overturning calls 56% of the time when they challenged [10]. The system strikes a balance between tradition and technology that even its skeptics have come to accept.

Team USA Marches On, But the Narrative Has Shifted

Team USA advances to face the winner of the Italy-Venezuela semifinal in the WBC championship game on March 17 at loanDepot Park [5]. It's the Americans' third consecutive WBC final appearance, powered by a roster featuring some of MLB's brightest young stars.

But the conversation has shifted. Instead of celebrating a tense, well-played semifinal, the baseball world is debating whether the result was legitimate. Instead of previewing the championship, analysts are relitigating the strike zone.

Juan Soto, characteristically, tried to redirect attention: "We showed the world who's the best team in baseball," he said of his Dominican squad's tournament performance [3]. And in many ways, the Dominican Republic was the tournament's best story — a team that set a WBC home run record, featured multiple MVP candidates, and played with a passion that filled stadiums across the bracket.

That their run ended on a call that technology could have corrected in seconds is the cruelest irony in a sport that is, at this very moment, deploying that same technology.

What Comes Next

The ABS Challenge System will be used in every Spring Training, regular season, and postseason game beginning March 25 [10]. Baseball Savant has already launched a dedicated ABS Challenge Dashboard to track the system's impact in real time [12].

For international baseball, the path forward is less clear. The WBSC would need to coordinate with MLB on technology sharing, develop protocols for calibrating the system across dozens of national teams, and invest in Hawk-Eye infrastructure at international venues. None of that will happen overnight.

But the image of Geraldo Perdomo standing at home plate, bat on his shoulder, knowing the pitch was a ball, powerless to do anything about it — that image will linger. It is the strongest possible argument for a technology that arrives just ten days too late.

Baseball has solved this problem. It just hasn't solved it everywhere yet.