The Cleveland Indians Brought In The Wrong Pitcher in the 9th Inning Last Night Because of a Bullpen Phone Malfunction And Lost the Game. How Are Bullpen Phones Still a Thing?

Last night in the 9th inning against the Reds, Terry Francona wanted to get “OP” Oliver Perez warmed up in the 9th inning while closer Cody Allen was shitting the bed trying to close out a 4-0 ball game. Instead of warming up “OP,” the bullpen coach heard  “OT” and got Dan Otero cooking. The Reds, having already scored three runs in the inning, loaded the bases with two outs. The always dangerous Joey Votto, a lefty, was due up and Francona wanted to bring in his lefty specialist to get the final out. That’s when he realized Dan Otero was warming up and ready to come in instead. He had no choice but to bring him in with Allen exhausted out there. What were left-handed opponents batting against Otero on the year? That would be .362 with with an OPS of 1.154. Votto proceeded to rip a bases clearing double to take the lead and win the game for the Reds.

The year is 2018 and the fact that we still have bullpen phones is CRAZY to me. Well, maybe not considering Major League Baseball still has their players vote for the All Star Game using the fucking mail. The NFL has no less than a billion tablets on the sidelines as they analyze every play that has happened in the game. Can someone explain to me how we don’t have managers selecting pitchers to warm up via tablet? Instead we have landline phones where it could very hard to hear the other side depending if it’s loud as hell in the stadium. There is no other sport something like this happens in besides baseball. I love the sport to death, but it’s as archaic as it gets.