BALTIMORE (AP) 鈥� Major League Baseball now uses technology to confirm or overturn balls and strikes.
Is it time for something similar around the foul poles?
The Baltimore Orioles certainly felt aggrieved Wednesday night against the New York Yankees after Pete Alonso’s deep fly to left field in the seventh inning was ruled foul 鈥� and the call was upheld on a review.
The play occurred with the game tied at 3. New York then scored twice in top of the eighth and .
鈥淚 think a simple fix is like football, you have the pylon camera with the plane, where it shoots right across the goal line,鈥� Alonso said. 鈥淎nd I feel like, for us, we could easily have a laser or a camera that shoots straight up.鈥�
Manager Craig Albernaz shared Alonso’s frustration.
鈥淥n the dugout iPads there鈥檚 ball-tracking data with the field that the players see, so it鈥檚 really tough to have that (call) come back as 鈥榮tands鈥� and have that visual in the dugout as well. It鈥檚 2026,鈥� Albernaz said. 鈥淭here are teams using AI on the iPads and other sports use ball-tracking data for challengeable calls. Don鈥檛 understand why we don鈥檛 do it.鈥�
At least one replay seemed to show the ball on the fair side of the pole, but it wasn鈥檛 clear what angle that shot was from.
鈥淲hat I was told is in order to overturn a call, you need to have two camera angles to confirm it,鈥� Alonso said. 鈥淏ut the best view, the only view that shows the ball fair or foul is the one down the line, but no other camera angle is available. So video room rules it foul, umpire obviously called it foul initially. It is what it is.鈥�
It might have been easier for the umpire 鈥� and the replay room 鈥� to make the call if Alonso’s hit hadn’t been so high. It appeared to tower above the foul pole at one point.
鈥淭hat we don鈥檛 have the technology in place to actually say, 鈥楬ey, this was fair or foul,鈥� is literally crazy in 2026. It鈥檚 crazy,鈥� said Chris Bassitt, Baltimore’s starting pitcher Wednesday.
Bassitt then blamed financial considerations for why such technology isn’t used.
鈥淏ecause it would cost money,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 it. I mean, that鈥檚 literally it.鈥�
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