Well, to be fair, they are every year. As I understand it, every umpire goes through a review process over the off-season. This includes reviewing the films of their calls. Just as everyone goes through a performance evaluation, so do the umpires.
But here comes the media. They focus on the high profile calls. The ones that made the headlines. Such as this article by the USA Today which highlights the infamous Doug Eddings’ drop third strike call. In my mind, that was not the most egregious call even in the postseason. There were plenty of mistakes made by the men in blue that warrant review. I saw out calls while the ball was lying on the ground, a fielder tagging the runner with his empty glove and more. The good news is that most of these calls were reversed after a conference between the umps and without intervention from a third party.
That all said, I don’t believe in instant replay and assuming that a review process is strictly adhered to, the umpire’s call stands. Like umpire Bill Klem said, “It ain’t nuthin’ till I call it.”
Most years, the NFL referees really make the baseball umpires look good.
That was not the case this year.
The umpires did NOT have a good post-season.