The controversial ending of Thursday night's Game 5 of the NLDS between the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers left many fans peeved with the umpiring crew, especially home plate ump Doug Eddings. In the scorecard from the epic finish to the NLDS, Eddings seemed to be more consistent than many believed throughout the game, but the details will leave Giants fans frustrated.
As opposed to the woefully inaccurate performance Angel Hernandez put together behind the plate in Game 2, Eddings was quite a bit more accurate and consistent in the series finale.
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Unsurprisingly, however, Eddings' overall favor leaned toward the Dodgers by 0.68 runs, and his two most significant misses in terms of run expectancy came in the same at-bat for Giants slugger Kris Bryant.
Eddings determined that instead of ball four for Bryant here, this pitch warranted a strike.
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Not among the three most significant missed calls from Eddings was the one Giants fans will remember most. Wilmer Flores' questionable check swing that was deemed a strike after an appeal to end the game. Eddings was not the one responsible on that play, however, as Dodgers catcher Will Smith appealed to first base umpire Gabe Morales.
A call here or there ultimately isn't the determination of why the Dodgers were able to defeat the Giants in this series between baseball's two best teams. The Giants' failure to execute with runners in scoring position throughout the series limited their ceiling, and trusting a 24-year-old reliever in a high-pressure situation proved to be the wrong decision in Game 5.
This likely won't be the last playoff battle between these two squads, but the Dodgers managed to come away victorious this time around.
San Francisco Giants
Hopefully for the sake of both sides, MLB puts together a better group of umpires next time these storied rivals meet with so much on the line.