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Mets benefit from controversial call on Bobby Witt Jr. stolen base

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Jul 13, 2025 11:03 AM ET

The New York Mets appear to have gotten a real helping hand from the replay center over the weekend.

The Mets defeated the Kansas City Royals on Saturday by a 3-1 final score at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. A crucial moment in the game came during the eighth inning when Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. attempted to steal second base after a one-out walk with his team trailing 2-1.

Witt seemed to easily beat the throw by Mets catcher Luis Torrens and was called safe on the field. But the Mets decided to challenge the call as they believed that Witt may have come off the bag while Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor had the tag on him.

After the umpires dialed up the Replay Operations Center in New York City, the call on the field was [squints eyes in disbelief] overturned from safe to out. Take a look at the video for yourself.

THE METS WIN THE CHALLENGE!

Luis Torrens with a perfect throw to get Bobby Witt Jr. trying to steal! pic.twitter.com/SOELcb3V26
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 12, 2025

It certainly looked like Witt had managed to stay on the bag for the entire duration of that tag. While there was an argument that Witt’s arm may have come off the base before his leg hit the other side, it was probably only for a nanosecond at best. There was certainly no clear and convincing evidence to overturn the safe call on the field.

The overturn ended up being massive as the Royals went from having the tying run in scoring position with one out and the heart of the order up at the plate … to simply having two outs with nobody on. The Mets then scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth before slamming the door shut on the Royals in the bottom half to win 3-1.

Replay review in Major League Baseball generally tends to stick to the call made on the field if the clear-and-convincing evidence standard is not met. During the playoffs last year, we even got an example of just how high that standard can be sometimes. That makes it even more bizarre that the Mets somehow managed to get away with one during Saturday’s game against the Royals.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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