It was certainly a rough weekend for both Justin Verlander and the San Francisco Giants. The Toronto Blue Jays did what they do best—pulling a clean sweep. But besides the series shutout, it was umpire Chad Whitson’s brutal burn that became the unexpected standout.
First, the series saw Justin Verlander giving up four earned runs in only 2 2/3 innings on Friday night at Rogers Center. It was a disappointing outing for a 42-year-old veteran pitcher.
However, it was just the beginning of the chaos. During Sunday’s finale, the San Francisco Giants were met with another embarrassing 8-6 loss. But it was Verlander’s ejection that sparked the fire.
In the sixth inning, Verlander had some choice words for Whitson (not disclosed clearly), and that’s all it took for his immediate ejection. Then, Whitson crossed the line by aggressively pointing out his short outing on Friday. “How ’bout you worry about getting out of the third inning, huh?” he shouted.
The Giants were trailing 7-4 during the sixth inning. With Brett Wisely at the plate, umpire Whitson called two pitches as strikes when they were visibly off the plate. For the record, as per the Ump Scorecard, 11 out of his 51 called strikes were outside the strike zone. In fact, three of the most impactful missed calls made during the fourth and fifth innings of the game were all against the Giants.
Now, as soon as Whitson made that remark to Verlander, it travelled from Rogers Center to social media in no time. And of course, fans didn’t take the umpire’s remark well.
Fans were quick to demand games without umpires after the Verlander incident
Just when Whitson fired back at Verlander, it caught league-wide attention. Some were furious at Whiston; others were flat-out done with human umpires.
Collectively, many had the same question. “When can we get rid of umpires?” This is the question that has been asked most season after season. According to Rob Manfred’s June announcement, the robo-umps could be implemented in Major League Baseball as early as the 2026 season. As it seems, fans don’t really seem worried about the removal of the human element from the game. With all the wrong calls at high-stakes games, they seem to be over human umpires.
Another comment read, “I can’t WAIT until umpires are GONE. And they are about to be .” Clearly, MLB fans are ready for a future without human umpires. And the All-Star break has already given a glimpse of how fruitful it can be. But then again, during the MLB player poll, conducted this spring, it came to light that 63.4 percent of players were against robo-umps calling balls and strikes. That means just a mere 17.1 percent were in favor, while another 19.4 percent were yet to decide.
Still, the way umpires can get too harsh led fans to say, “Dude, just get rid of the umpires lmao—useless crybabies.” Well, we are aware of the downsides of losing human umpires. If ABS takes over, it can worsen the competitive nature of the game. There would be a massive fundamental shift that fans might not like when the robo-umps are actually executed.
Meanwhile, one fan pointed out the way Whitson called Verlander out. “Horrible calls by the umpire, but what he said is disrespectful than it is funnier imo.” It’s true. Whitson’s remark did strike a nerve; it wasn’t appropriate towards a widely renowned veteran.
As a result, fans can’t wait for ABS to take over in 2026. “ABS challenges next year. ASG proved their effectiveness.” The league implemented the ABS challenge system in the 2025 All-Star Game. It allowed both teams two challenges on balls and strike calls, and we all know how that went.
Now, as fans saw it as a success, they can’t wait for it to be implemented in regular games, too.
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