“Are you sh**ing me?” shouted Lane Thomas after the home plate umpire Emil Jimenez ejected him in a bizarre situation last night. A normal night of baseball battle between the Washington Nationals and the Detroit Tigers turned into a battlefield between broadcasters and umpires after Thomas was seen getting ejected for an offense that couldn’t be seen or heard.

One might question the criteria for ejections, especially following Thomas’ ejection in the 6th inning. The incident occurred while he was facing the Tigers’ Casey Mize with a 2-2 count. Thomas disagreed with the umpire’s strike call on a pitch he thought was outside. He glanced briefly at the second-year umpire, which resulted in his ejection. In a truly bizarre situation, there was no visual evidence showing the Nationals star saying anything to the umpire that warranted such action.

“What? Are you sh**ing me? I didn’t look at you, it was at the ball!” yelled a frustrated Lane Thomas. However, his words fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the Nats’ announcer Kevin Frandsen was fuming. “We literally have video and voice audio. He never said anything that, that’s just bad. That makes me even more mad,” said Frandsen. Thomas was having a reasonable game going 1-for-3 before this ejection ended it prematurely. 

The slugger called it “frustrating.” “Looking back, what I said was nothing that I haven’t said in the past and I thought it was a little quick,” Thomas said per the Washington Post. “I definitely didn’t say anything toward him.” The Washington Nationals ended up losing that game 7-2 to the Tigers.

The questionable umpiring decisions in 2024 continue. It’s quite ironic that the year the highly controversial Angel Hernandez retired, the baseball world is seeing such head-scratching decisions.

Recent questionable ejection calls that frustrated the fans

It sometimes looks like there might not be any clear criteria for ejections lately. From Lane Thomas’ ejection to Bryce Harper’s, there’s just no consistency anymore. Earlier in the season Harper was ejected simply because he was having a cordial conversation with the umpire about his three strike calls. Then the New York Yankees’ Aaron Boone was ejected because a fan commented on the umpire. 

However, on the contrary, on Wednesday Philadelphia Phillies’ Nick Castellanos had a small argument with the umpire. The umpire had called him out for a pitch clock violation. He immediately turned to the umpire and told him to “f***ing speak up!” about the pitch clock. Interestingly, the umpire didn’t eject Castellanos.

So, are the umpires making decisions based on their whims or following a set criteria? It’s understandable that there’s immense pressure on umpires to make accurate calls. However, a bit more consistency could significantly improve their rapport with fans.