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We’re still a month away from the start of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, but teams have already started to gear up for Opening Day after descending upon some of America’s warmer regions for the beloved tradition that is spring training.
This year’s warmup period has provided players and fans with a look at the controversial pitch clock that is poised to be the source of some major drama over the course of the upcoming campaign. However, that’s just one of the many issues guys who’ve gathered in Florida and Arizona will use their time there to focus on.
While most franchises couldn’t care less about the final score of the games they play over the course of spring training, those contests are still pretty vital for teams looking to track player development, assess strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately firm up the best roster possible as they gear up for the regular season.
Many players also don’t take spring training games for granted, as the exhibitions are the best opportunity they have when it comes to getting ready to play some meaningful baseball.
As a result, it’s hard to blame the Pirates and the Orioles for wanting to milk as much action as possible out of their showdown on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh was sporting a 7-4 lead on its home turf in Bradenton heading into the ninth inning, and the score remained unchanged after Baltimore failed to generate any offense in the top of the frame.
While MLB rules dictate the game should’ve ended at that point, players on both sides were still down to finish out the bottom of the ninth to get some extra reps in.
However, there was one group of individuals who weren’t having any of that: the umpires who hit the showers and let the two teams wrap things up on their own.
omg the Pirates and Orioles wanted to play a bottom of the 9th despite the Pirates leading 7-4 at home but the umpires just left after the top half thinking the game was over so now they are playing without them pic.twitter.com/kWotCYsJBZ
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) February 28, 2023
The Orioles and Pirates just played the last inning of their Spring Training game without any umpires. pic.twitter.com/OM4wp4rYq2
— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) February 28, 2023
It appears the statisticians tasked with keeping track of what unfolded also opted to call it a day, but we thankfully got some footage (complete with a Pirates broadcaster who repeatedly stressed how meaningless the final frame was).
some highlights from The Umpireless Inning: https://t.co/P3MSafaLMQ pic.twitter.com/Rf8UjrE7GG
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) February 28, 2023
Amazing.