According to Ben Walker of the Associated Press, the MLB has made their selection of umpires to officiate the World Series matchup between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals. Four of the seven umpires will be working in their first World Series.
An anonymous individual with knowledge of the MLB's decision told the AP that Hunter Wendelstedt, Eric Cooper, Jim Reynolds and Jerry Meals will be those participating in their first World Series as they join Jeff Kellogg, Jeff Nelson and Ted Barrett. Kellogg, who will serve as the crew chief, has been to the World Series four times and Nelson and Barrett each have been twice.
"An umpire's entire body of work is evaluated when assigning postseason series, and we always strive to have the most deserving umpires working postseason games," MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said, in this AP article, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "This year, instant replay also became another facet of performance."
There were 1,275 replay reviews in the MLB season and 600 calls were reversed. Wendelstedt (2), Cooper (3), Reynolds (7), Kellogg (5), Meals (10) and Barrett (12) accounted for only 39 of those reversals (Nelson's number wasn't given). But this was just one of the criteria the umpires were graded on prior to their selection to the World Series. The MLB also takes into account ball-strike ratios for umps behind the plate, handling situations/confrontations on the field, time missed during the regular season, and overall experience.
Since 1998 (aside from 2009), the MLB has included at least one umpire in the World Series who never officiated the event. The 2009 postseason was riddled with incorrect calls, so the league took it upon themselves to select an all-veteran crew. This is the second time in the previous 35 World Series that four first-timers were chosen, but the selections were decided upon with prudence because Wendelstedt, Reynolds and Cooper have been in the MLB since 1999 and Meals since 1998.
The World Series will begin on Tuesday, October 21 in Kansas City and the crew will be ready to call an interesting matchup between two wild-card teams.
