Get it right

OF COURSE. The postseason is what everyone plays for and watches for all season long, so MLB should want to get it right. The real question is will the old-timers in the front offices admit that change is good and allow instant reply? Time marches on, things advance -- and you either keep up or die off. Tradition is great, and there is a lot of tradition in baseball. But MLB has to keep up with the times if it wants to remain America's pastime, or time will pass MLB by.

Bret Rasmussen

Pleasanton

'Human element'

NO. AS A fan of baseball for almost 40 years, I think the one thing that sets baseball aside is the "human element." Players are human, umpires are human and mistakes will be made. A true champion overcomes the bad breaks and finds a way to win. In addition, if you think people are turned off by long, boring games now, just go ahead and introduce instant replay. MLB will lose the rest of its "fringe" fans.

Will McDonald

Alamo

Love nuance

NO. There will always be controversial or "bad" calls, and instant replay won't change that. Baseball is a game of nuances, subtleties and close plays -- that's part of what makes it so fun. Instant replay would diminish the game.

Andy Spafford

Fremont

Give it a try

IDON'T SEE anything wrong with trying instant replay in postseason games. The game moves very fast, as everyone knows. The bad call in Game 2 of the ALCS is proof positive. The Angels took a dive after that, but no one knew that at the time. I say give it a try. One bad call that's allowed to stand could have serious impact in a playoff series.

Phelps Euler

Manteca

More humility needed

NO. FOR THE most part, major league umpires are the best in sports, better trained than any other officials in any pro sport. Sure they get things wrong, but I think if you look at their statistics, they are really good. What the umpires need is more humility and maybe not take the game personally, and be more professional. In life we tell our children to take responsibility and admit to their mistakes and move on. Umpires often cannot, they haven't learned that lesson yet. Adding instant reply would only corrupt the beauty of the game.

Rudy Jaramillo

Tempe, Ariz.

No place for it

INSTANT REPLAY has no place in professional baseball. After 120 years, it's amazing that people want to change the rules and stop relying on the human aspect of the game. Baseball is unique among pro sports: the action is focused on the guy with the ball or the bat, not an entire playing field at once. More than that, plays occur between just two players 99.99 percent of the time. If we can't expect umpires to watch singular plays and make the best possible call, we might as well use ESPN's K-Zone to call balls and strikes from now on.

Matt Pieraldi

San Jose

Humans make mistakes

YES. HOW MANY of us have seen that call that just outraged us. Look, these umps are human and will make human mistakes. Give them the break they need. The NFL has struggled with this but seems to have worked out the kinks. Why not baseball?

James Kuenzi

San Leandro

Marching onward

USE INSTANT REPLAY in baseball, at least during the playoffs. If we have the technology, let's use it. If you have a shovel, do you still use your hands to dig for gold? Of course not. Let's prevent more mistakes and bad calls from happening.

Jason Litteral

Castro Valley

Why it's needed

WHEN UMP Doug Eddings gave the world his excuse of the "ball changing directions" and "I didn't have him catching the ball," I wonder how many actually bought his answers. His two different hand signals -- (1) fingers pointing out as if it was a strike, and (2) his fist clenched in a "out" signal -- were seen by all. His reasoning was lame and another reason for instant replay.

Jerry Kelly

San Lorenzo

Too many problems

NO. Problems would arise as to when it could be used, who could request its use, and how often it could be used. It would only encourage players and managers to get into more rhubarbs than they already do.

Tom Ryugo

San Francisco

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We deserve it

IT'S A MUST in any sport. We as fans deserve to enjoy the game, so when an official makes the wrong call, while millions of people see something else, then something must be done. Humans make mistakes, that's why we rely on technology (instant replay) to correct our mistake. Who cares if it delays the game. It only takes a couple of minutes.

Theody Virrey

Hayward

Move into reality

FOR THE PLAYOFFS? Absolutely! Get Selig's head out of the 19th Century and into reality. It's just human nature for umpires to make mistakes in judgment depending on their position. Let's get the call right for crying out loud! But you know it won't happen.

Bob Flood

San Bruno

It'll ruin the game

NO. IT WILL ruin the game. Major League Baseball needs to get younger umps in the majors. You have 60-year-old men who are overweight and out of shape trying to umpire a young man's game. Umpires should be like players; when they can't perform up to major league standards, they should retire or be sent to the minors. There is no such thing as a job for life.

Ben Wallace

Hayward

A time disaster

IT WOULD BE a disaster, further elongating the game. What is needed is better-trained and younger umpires not set in their ways. Teach them the strike zone etc. Negotiate with the unions for lower retirement dates. And rid the game of unqualified umpires.

Bob Castronovo

Belmont

Year-round or bust

EITHER USE instant replay all year or not at all. Neither the NFL, college football, NBA nor NCAA basketball use instant replay just for the playoffs or tournaments -- they use it year-round. You could have one game or two decided in the regular season that could affect a team getting into the post-season, so use it year-round. That would only be fair.

Gene Frieders

Livermore

Keep it interesting

NO, BECAUSE then we will have nothing to debate when the umpires get it wrong. Baseball is the one sport where the human error makes it all the more interesting.

Eric Culberson Jr.

Oakland

To heck with purists

YES. Purists who say the game's integrity would be lost don't realize the importance of getting calls right! I say whatever helps the game progress, and keeps arguments to a minimum, can only help, not hurt, it. It'll never be perfect but nothing is.

Mitch Weiner

Fremont

Too much at stake

YES, IN THE postseason. There is just too much at stake. Umpires are human, they make mistakes just like football officials, and it works for them. The way the umps have butchered some calls thus far makes it a no-brainer.

Bruce Tahsler

San Ramon

Crews are awful

THE UMPIRE crews miss too many calls, probably due to the speed of the game and inability to get in the right position to see the play. Of far greater need is going to automatic electronic cameras viewing the plate and the strike zone, calling the balls and strikes.

Don Meamber

Montague

It wouldn't be perfect

IF INSTANT REPLAY were used for balls and strikes, I would be against that. It would slow the game to a crawl, and baseball has never been known as a fast game. However, if it is used to determine whether the runner is out or safe on a very close call or fly ball was dropped or caught, then they should use it. But we fans must remember: errors in judgment can still happen, instant replay is not fool-proof. Wrong calls still occur in the NFL, which has instant replay.

Bill Ma

Oakland

With a time limit

ONLY if it has a time limit to keep the game going. Playoff baseball is intense, and they shouldn't slow it down due the time- consuming matter of having the ump look at some TV viewer. The Angels, and maybe even the Yankees, got robbed of possible wins, but the result was a new team marching onward in the playoffs. And anyway, replay sure didn't help the Raiders when they lost at New England.

Sam Jones Jr.

Oakland

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Still a 'final call'

AS LONG AS MLB continues to entrust its game to unqualified, dishonest, delusional umpires who care more about their egos than the game, nothing will change. Instant replay is just an illusion of fairness. The final call would still be up to some egotistical umpire.

Calvin Jackson

Oakland

Use the technology

OF COURSE. I can't believe in this technology-laden world, that a system that would enable the right call to be determined would be detrimental to the game. The "human element" is fine, but if your team is on the wrong end of a call that could be righted by the use of camera, isn't getting the "correct call" better than missing it? Imagine a World Series Game 7 home run called "foul" when replays show it being fair. Instant replay isn't perfect, but it's better than what's in place now.

Rich Lieberman

Oakland

Use it for strike zone

IF THEY ARE going to use it, they should use it for everything -- including balls and strikes. But that isn't going to happen. The umpires need to start being responsible and work as a team. If one umpire sees a call differently because of his angle, he needs to speak up and confer with the other umpires. Every umpire has a different strike zone, that in itself is a joke. If the umpires drop their egos and learn to speak up when one feels a call should be overruled, it's their responsibility.

Phillip Avalos

Sacramento

Umpires doing a fine job

NO. THE UMPIRES generally do an excellent job in reviewable situations. Even the occasional incorrect call is seldom the actual game-decider. More important, the pace and flow and drama of the game would be disrupted by instant replay. Baseball is an old- fashioned, low-tech game. It is the only major U.S. sport played during the day in the middle of the week. It evokes memories of skipped school, cold beer and Cracker Jack prizes. With instant replay, we might never have had memories of classic Sparky Anderson, Billy Martin or Lou Pinella meltdowns. With instant replay, there may no longer be arguments about specific plays to bridge the gap between the final out of the World Series and the first pitch of spring training. Instant replay could turn baseball into just another video game.

Josephine Soublet

Hayward

Playoffs if at all

NO. BUT IF MLB does decide to use it, then it should be used only in playoff games.

Sam Chaires

San Leandro

Down to a crawl

ISN'T BASEBALL a slow enough sport as it is? I mean, I love the game, but it isn't a game without humans -- and humans make mistakes. Besides, what would guys like me have to fight over at work and people like the good folks at your newspaper have to write about?

Daniel Forte

Hayward

Pandering to 'Vid-kids'

ICAN'T THINK of another alteration in the rules of sport that reflects such a chasm between the classical approach and sensibility of a game and the "forward thinking," re-pacing that will certainly appeal to those with vested monetary interest, those with institutional power, afraid to really delve into the observation that kids can't pull far enough away from video games to discover baseball's beauty. Just think of all the new gaps for commercials. Let the game die with dignity.

Eric Klatt

Oakland

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