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The home plate ump screwed up this game, biased against Lester. I got that feeling early on. He called a high strike for Kluber that was 3-6 inches above the zone early. The Cubs’ hitters then lost confidence in the pitch calling and began swinging at pitches out of the zone. Meanwhile, Lester couldn’t buy a strike. I saw several times where Lester questioned the pitch call. His pitch count increased fast, and the Indians were getting second chances.

I’ve been watching baseball for 35 years and played up through college. I saw very quickly what the ump was doing.
Hitters can’t make an adjustment in game from a strike zone that’s been the same all season long but then is different in the first game of this series.

I speculate that the league wants a 7 game series or the ump just had an attitude and screwed with the game.

You get that sometimes - either the ump has an attitude or maybe even a little nervous to be calling the World Series.

But I don’t think the Cubbies can plead ‘ump’ for everything; they wuz shut out by Cleveland, and even a crazy ump can’t make that happen.

Interssting side note: Red Sox. Terry Francona coaching the Indians and Theo Epstein recruiting talent for the Cubs. Plus, the Sox crashed and burned against the Indians in the playoffs this year. The Beantown Bunch played great ball through the late summer, then played crap in the playoffs.

The home plate ump screwed up this game, biased against Lester.

Maybe a little early on. After Lester had that conversation with him, his bias CLEARLY switched. Or he overcompensated at the very least. He gave Lester about four inches off of the outside corner when he struck out Guyer with no out and a guy on second. Also there were several strike calls that Miller didn't get.

I’ve been watching baseball for 35 years and played up through college. I saw very quickly what the ump was doing.

Anybody who's watched and played that much will clearly acknowledge that Kluber WAS the better pitcher last night right?

I speculate that the league wants a 7 game series or the ump just had an attitude and screwed with the game.

No. It's not fixed. The Cubs just lost. Kluber was fantastic and clearly outpitched Lester regardless of who was behind the plate. That slider that started out going towards the guy's hip and then breaking back in over the plate was one of the nastiest pitches I've seen.

The umpire did not hit Guyer with the bases loaded in the first to bring in a run. The umpire did not instruct Lester not to throw over to first under ANY circumstances when the Indians were caught and could have been picked off. Major League Cy Young caliber pitcher who's AFRAID to throw over to first.....can't blame the umpire for that. The umpire didn't serve up TWO homeruns to the number nine hitter who batted about a buck eighty during the season.

Nope, the strike zone moved around a bit for BOTH teams. The Indians adjusted better and outplayed the Cubs.

Series certainly isn't over yet and we'll see how much of an impact the drone accident will have on it. So far it's Indians 1-0 and that's pretty sweet! Go Tribe!