The New York Mets entered their final home game on September 21 with an 80–75 record, clinging to the final National League Wild Card spot. The pressure was so intense after losing 11 of their last 15 games that a loss would drop them into a tie with the Cincinnati Reds, who held the tiebreaker. And across the field, the Washington Nationals had nothing to lose with a dismal 63-92 record. Their only job was to play spoiler.
The stage was set for a classic matchup, and for the Mets, one swing—or non-swing—became the flashpoint.
It happened in the bottom of the sixth inning after Francisco Lindor blasted a solo homer, cutting Washington’s lead to 3-2. So, when Mark Vientos stepped up to the plate with two runners on and two outs, the Mets had a chance to seize control. Then, on a 2-2 count, Vientos tried to check his swing at an 80.8 mph curveball from Nationals reliever Mitchell Parker. And home plate umpire John Tumpane pointed to first base for confirmation. First base umpire Chris Conroy, the crew chief, raised his fist. Strike three.
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And the rally was dead. Vientos reacted instantly, slamming his bat onto home plate. But before the bat even settled, Tumpane ejected the 25-year-old slugger. That moment proved to be the final nail in the coffin.
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Parker slammed the door, sealing a devastating 3-2 victory and a series win. For the rest of the game, Parker allowed only two hits. Though manager Carlos Mendoza didn’t comment on that particular incident, he mentioned, “We have to keep going, there’s six more games to go.” But the fact is: the team is 17 games under .500 since June 13. Even Vientos, whose batting average sat at a lowly .235 even after hitting 17 homers, also kept his silence.
Though the players and umpires moved on, the incident lit a firestorm of debate among fans.
The fans in New York weren’t happy
Many fans felt the quick ejection was a massive overreach of power. They wrote, “This umpire should be removed from the job. He might of went, but again not ejection worthy. There’s a problem in this game with these b—- umpires. @MLB you are trash. Nobody is there to see them.” That frustration doesn’t come out of nowhere. With 40 career ejections, Tumpane has a reputation, and fans remember his infamous 2022 game, where he called three balks on Miami Marlins pitcher Richard Bleier.
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But the anger didn’t stop at accountability—it boiled over into violent hyperbole. As one fan commented, “Should’ve went to 1st and beat him(umpire) to death with it.” In baseball’s early days, umpires were often physically attacked by players and mobs. While fans today aren’t serious about violence, when recourse feels nonexistent, their words echo baseball’s brutal past as another fan who just repeated the same emotion.
“Can we go back to assaulting umpires.”
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Other fans see a pattern of incompetence that is protected by the league. “F— god awful umps are the cancer to baseball.” By late September, MLB umps had issued 162 ejections on the season, and Tumpane himself has had games where he has missed more than 10 calls in a single game. And the crew chief, Chris Conroy, was once flagged for missing 24 calls in a game.
And then again, the final comment came as a call for technology. “Can we please get automated umps so we don’t have to deal with these retards on their periods when they make bad calls and players react in a Pennant race?” In spring training, MLB tested an Automated Ball-Strike System, and so many of the challenges flipped the wrong calls. And hence came another day of echoed feeling that if the human element is the problem, then remove it.
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Now, considering the Mets’ loss dropped them into a dangerous position in their pennant race, MLB should utilize technology in this high-stakes situation that offers an objective solution when human error becomes too costly.