The San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs played in the 2025 Wild Card Series. The Cubs ultimately won a pivotal Game 3 and advanced to the Divisional Series, while the Padres' season came to an end.
The game wasn't without controversy. Umpires are human and, like everyone, they make mistakes. The hope is that none of the mistakes come at a pivotal moment.
In the top of the ninth, San Diego was down to its final three outs, facing a 3-1 deficit after Jackson Merrill led the inning off with a home run. Xander Bogaerts was at the plate and appeared to draw a walk. Instead, on a ball that looked low, Bogaerts was rung up by the home plate umpire. Naturally, he started arguing with the umpire, causing manager Mike Shildt to come out of the dugout.
The inning continued, and the Padres weren't able to mount a comeback. As the umpires were leaving the field, the defeated Padres and their coaching staff gave them an earful, and it was a situation that almost escalated to a physical level.
The Padres were NOT happy with the umpires last night... 😳
— theScore (@theScore) October 3, 2025
(🎥: @padsfanatic)pic.twitter.com/rhJiNi1BGQ
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Here is more on the shouting match between the umpires and Padres following San Diego's Game 3 loss in the Wild Card Series.
Why were Padres players and umpires arguing after game?
Tensions were high. It looked like the umpire had missed a call during Bogaerts' at-bat in the top of the ninth. After he was rung up on a ball that likely should have been ball four, resulting in a walk, the next two San Diego hitters got hit, so the Padres could have had the bases loaded with no outs.
Instead, it was first and second with one out. Jake Cronenworth then grounded out to third, and Freddy Fermin flew out to center field to end the game.
When the umpires left the field, they were yelled at by the Padres for the missed call. It escalated quickly, but luckily the umpires were able to get into the dugout tunnel before it turned physical, as the players and coaches looked ready for in the heat of the moment.
MORE MLB: Inside Aaron Judge's postseason struggles
How many bad strike calls were there in 2025?
Automatic Balls and Strikes (ABS) have been a talking point all season. It was utilized in spring training, and it isn't an automatic system as the name suggests. Instead, it allows players or pitchers two challenges throughout the game.
After seeing a challenge system in place for spring training, it was eliminated for the regular season. Every missed call after that felt magnified, as it was clear that a possible solution was in place that the league wasn't utilizing.
It is estimated that there were more than 26,500 missed calls during the regular season. ABS wouldn't make that number zero, but it would theoretically help lower it with the challenge system.
Umpires missed 26,567 calls during the 2025 regular season including 1,203 strikeouts.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) September 30, 2025
These were the 10 worst called strikeouts by distance missed. pic.twitter.com/1zZ1HFNamb
MORE MLB: What to know about MLB's ABS challenge system for 2026 season
When will ABS be implemented in MLB?
ABS will be implemented in the MLB for the 2026 regular season. It was tested in Spring Training in 2025 and has consistently been tested at the minor league level for a few years as tweaks to the rule were made. MLB is finally ready to adopt the rule, and it will do so in 2026.