Blue Jays Once Again Burned by Illegal Slide Rule

The Toronto Blue Jays were victims of the new slide rule again during Thursday’s 13-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The illegal slide rule was put in place for the 2016 MLB season to protect infielders from being targeted and injured by base runners coming at the middle infielders in a hurry. If a base runner does not make any attempt to slide cleanly into the base, as opposed to targeting the infielder, both the runner and the batter will be called out.

In any professional sport when a new rule or a rule change is put into place there is always going to be controversy, whether it be the illegal slide rule in MLB, or the new illegal contact rule in the CFL, it will take time for both officials and players to adjust, get the call right, and change their game accordingly to avoid any infraction.

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The new rule was on full display in a game much earlier this season when Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista slid into second base hard to break up a double play. However, he reached out with his arm and appeared to grab at the ankles of Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Logan Forsythe.

Edwin Encarnacion was called out at first after the lengthy review.

Now that cost the Blue Jays a game way back on April 6, enter June 16 and we see another example of the new rule.

Blue Jays centre fielder Kevin Pillar was called out at second and after review of his slide, Darwin Barney, who reached first, was also called out due to an illegal slide. Now replays of the slide show it was hard, but there was zero intent to injure Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez.

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The first example discussed cost the Blue Jays a chance to win a game against a divisional opponent as that illegal slide rule ended the game. The second example cost the Jays a run against the Phillies.

The rule of thumb with anything introduced to people is that there will be an adjustment period, however, what are base runners supposed to do? Think in their head that they will be called out and slide way earlier avoiding the base all together? Baseball players are competitive by nature, as are any athletes, so you can’t expect a pro athlete to lie down because of a rule.

Further to that, the crew chief umpire for the play in question today was in perfect position to make the call on the field and didn’t do so, which sent the play to New York to go under review for the call of an illegal slide to be made.

Next: Blue Jays: Tulowitzki Begins Rehab, Bautista Injures Toe

So where do we go from here, an umpire and a player didn’t understand the rule on this play as neither did their job. Pillar slid illegally and there was no call for an illegal slide on the field, how long will it take for officials to make the adjustment, also how long will it take for players to adjust their routes to the base?