Fans Left Furious on Social Media as Team USA Beats DR After Controversial Strike Call: “Bring in Robot Umpires”

Team USA reached the finals of the World Baseball Classic following a controversial strike three call from home plate umpire Cory Blaser in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Fans Left Furious on Social Media as Team USA Beats DR After Controversial Strike Call: “Bring in Robot Umpires”

Umpire Cory Blaser made a huge strike three call that went in favor of Team USA (Image via X/@PhilsTailgate/X/@MLBONFOX)

Team USA are heading to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) final after beating the Dominican Republic 2-1 in the semi-finals. A thrilling game between the two teams would come to an end after a controversial strike three call by the home plate umpire, Cory Blaser.

The two sides came into the game hoping to get one step closer to the final and claim a second title. While the DR won the tournament in 2013, the Americans emerged victorious in the next edition in 2017.

In the previous campaign, America lost the final to Japan. This year, there would be no rematch between them as Shohei Ohtani and his side ended up losing 7-5 against Venezuela in the quarter finals.

The DR struck first in this game as Junior Caminero slugged a solo home run against Paul Skenes in the bottom of the 2nd inning. It was the 15th home run they had hit in this WBC, the most by any team in a campaign.

The United States hit back in the top of the 4th inning. A solo home run from Gunnar Henderson off Luis Severino tied the game at 1-1.

After Will Smith lined out, Severino was replaced by Gregory Soto on the mound. This change did not work out well for the Dominican Republic, as he gave up a solo home run to Roman Anthony on his 6th pitch.

It was the final out of this game that stole the attention. With Team USA leading 2-1, manager Mark DeRosa would call in Mason Miller to close out the game.

The San Diego Padres star would strike out Caminero and later give up a walk to Julio Rodriguez. A wild pitch would then see Rodriguez get on to second base. Oneil Cruz would then ground out, which allowed J-Rod to reach third base.

With the tying run 90 feet away, Geraldo Perdomo would face Miller. As the count went full at 3-2, Perdomo fouled off 2 pitches to stay alive. It was the 8th pitch of the at-bat that became a talking point.

Miller would throw an 89mph slider that would dip in low at the very end. As Perdomo saw the ball go low, he assumed it would be called ball four and given a walk. Unfortunately for him, home plate umpire Cory Blaser called it strike three, which ended the game.

Baseball world reacts to massive strike three call in Team USA’s win

On March 17, Team USA will play in their third consecutive World Baseball Classic final, having edged out Team Dominican Republic 2-1. The major focus of this game, though, has been on the controversial final call from home plate umpire Cory Blaser.

Team USA
Team USA celebrating (Image via Instagram/@wbcbaseball)

Many fans on social media were left furious with the strike three call from him. While some were happy to see the call go in their favor, a majority of them blasted the officials. One user wrote, “Bring in the robot umpires please“, while taking a swipe at this call.

Check out that and some other reactions from X below:

There is no Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system in the WBC. While this was used during Spring Training and will be implemented for the 2026 MLB season, it was not available for this tournament. Had the ABS system been there, DR could have challenged the call.

Albert Pujols refuses to criticize controversial final pitch call after DR loss’ against Team USA

The Dominican Republic suffered a major heartbreak on Sunday as they lost in the semi-finals of the WBC against Team USA. While the final pitch call from umpire Cory Blaser is dominating the headlines, DR manager Albert Pujols refused to criticize the call.

Albert Pujols
DR manager Albert Pujols (Image via Bleacher Report)

While speaking with the reporters after the game, the 3-time MLB MVP simply claimed he does not want to focus on that moment.

I don’t want to focus on the last pitch. … I’m not going to criticize any of that. It wasn’t meant to be.

Albert Pujols told the reporters

While the DR would be feeling hard done by the call, they did have some huge moments to score in the game. The team, whose bats were red hot in the tournament, would go silent in this big game. Stars Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Manny Machado combined to go 3-for-16 in this game.

Team USA will now turn their attention to the semi-finals between Italy and Venezuela. They will take on the winners of this clash on Tuesday and hope to avenge the 2023 loss.

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