HOW UMP.BOT WOULD HAVE
CALLED THE WBC SEMIFINAL
USA 2, Dominican Republic 1 | March 15, 2026 | Semifinal | LoanDepot Park, Miami
WBC Did Not Use ABS
MLB's Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System debuts March 25, 2026. The WBC was played under traditional umpiring — no challenge system was available.
Learn how ABS works →Game Summary
Called Strike 3
Situation
Bottom 9th. 2 outs. Runner on 3rd — the tying run 90 feet away. Full count. Geraldo Perdomo digs in against Mason Miller. Miller delivers an 85 mph slider. The pitch tracks below the bottom of Perdomo's personalized strike zone. Home plate umpire Cory Blaser rings him up. Game over.
Statcast confirmed the pitch was below the zone. Had the WBC used MLB's ABS Challenge System (which debuts March 25), Perdomo could have challenged and would have received the walk. Fernando Tatis Jr. was on deck.
⚡ What Would Have Changed
With the correct ball call, Perdomo walks to first. The tying run stays on third. Tatis Jr. — one of the best hitters in baseball — comes to the plate with runners on first and third, two outs, in the bottom of the ninth. The game continues. Instead, it ended on a missed call.
Called Strike 3
Situation
Juan Soto led off the 8th inning for the Dominican Republic, representing the team's best chance to tie the game. Garrett Whitlock's slider caught the bottom of the zone — or so it appeared. Ump.bot's analysis shows the pitch was approximately 2 inches below the zone bottom.
With a correct ball call, the at-bat would have continued with a 1-2 count. Soto, one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, would have had additional pitches to work with. The DR's best opportunity to score in the 8th ended on that call.
⚡ What Would Have Changed
The 8th inning at-bat continues at 1-2. Soto is a career .413 OBP hitter. The DR had a legitimate chance to tie the game with their best hitter still active with two more strikes to spend. That opportunity was removed by a pitch Statcast confirmed wasn't in the zone.
⚙️ About MLB's ABS Challenge System
MLB's Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System uses 12 Hawk-Eye cameras to track every pitch with millimeter precision, mapped against a batter's personalized strike zone. Players can challenge a call by tapping their helmet — the system resolves the challenge in about 15 seconds. Each team gets 2 challenges per game, kept if successful, with an extra challenge per extra inning.
The WBC did not use ABS in 2026, despite MLB adopting it for the regular season starting March 25. Had the system been in place, Perdomo could have challenged his strikeout call and received the walk.
Full ABS explainer →The Aftermath
Reactions
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Geraldo Perdomo
Perdomo left no doubt about his read on the pitch — he was certain it was a ball and made that clear to reporters in the postgame. The loss was difficult to process.
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Albert Pujols — DR Manager
Pujols took the high road, declining to criticize the umpire. He acknowledged the call went against his team but said it simply wasn't meant to be — a composed response from a legendary figure.
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Juan Soto
Despite the loss, Soto was emphatic: the Dominican Republic had proved they were the best team in baseball. The result didn't change what they showed on the field.
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Derek Jeter — WBC Commissioner
Jeter signaled that ABS would be part of the next WBC. The controversy from this game strengthened the case for bringing technology to international play.
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What Happened Next
The United States advanced to the final to face Venezuela, where they fell 3-2 in a closely contested championship game. The WBC ended without the team that may have been best positioned to win it all.