When the strike zone starts to resemble abstract art and critical calls swing wilder than a 3–0 count fastball, you know something’s gone terribly wrong behind the plate. Toronto Blue Jays fans aren’t just upset—they’re clamoring for fairness and consistency. As one umpire’s name echoes louder than the final score, the outrage is no longer about a missed call. It’s about a game being hijacked by a man with a mask and a mic.

The first name that we think of when it comes to bad umpiring is Angel Hernandez, but now it has a new name. The new name is Manny Gonzalez, and it is becoming the new definition of “bad umpiring.” After the Blue Jays vs Red Sox game, it became evidently clear why MLB needs ABS, and they need it right now.

It was posted by the Umpire Auditor through his X handle about this incident and also showed his badly it impacted the game. He wrote “Umpire Manny Gonzalez missed 14 calls in the Red Sox Blue Jays game. 12 of them went against the Blue Jays.”

It might be possibly unrelated, but these calls did have an impact on the Blue Jays, who lost the game by just one run. Several players, including Bo Bichette and Andres Gimenez, were visibly angry, but no one was ejected during the game. Even the Blue Jays manager, John Schneider said, “It’s tough to battle nine hitters and an umpire.” But this isn’t Gonzalez’s first instance of making such poor calls.

Gonzalez also holds a personal record in this from the 2024 season. When the SF Giants faced the Cubs in 2024, Gonzalez missed a season-high 27 calls which included 14 incorrect ball calls and 13 incorrect strike calls. This is widely regarded as one of the worst performances in the history of baseball.

If that Giants-Cubs disaster was the peak, this Blue Jays-Red Sox blunder might just be the sequel nobody asked for. At this point, watching a Gonzalez–officiated game feels less like a sport and more like a high-stakes guessing game. MLB can’t keep handing out home plate assignments like participation trophies. Until robo-umps arrive, pitchers better aim middle-middle—and pray.

Fans have had enough of the umpire mistakes after Blue Jays lose

Baseball may be a game of inches, but lately, it’s been ruled by miles of missed judgment. When fans start knowing the umpire’s name better than half the lineup, you know something’s off. Consistency? Optional. Accountability? Elusive. And as for accuracy—well, let’s just say Gonzalez has redefined the strike zone into something more like interpretive art. Here are the latest brushstrokes on his growing masterpiece of mayhem.

After the calls made during yesterday’s Blue Jays games, the ABS system is becoming increasingly required. Yes, there is human error but not to this extent. You can’t make 14 bad calls in the game and 12 of them against one team. The Blue Jays lost the game by one run and the fans are not sitting back. The ABS testing in the spring seemed like a good addition to the sport and the fans seem to want it sooner rather than later.

When we hear “umpires who made calls that were way out of line”, this is the name that the Blue Jays fans are shouting. Manny Gonzalez has made some bad calls, but none like this. Up, down, left, and right all were missed against the Blue Jays, and this did have an impact. The season has just started, and the fans are already calling this one of the worst umpire performances ever.

It all comes down to MLB and its management. The questions are starting to rise, and MLB is not to be seen anywhere. But this is not the first time he has made some bad calls. He made some of the worst calls in the Angels vs Blue Jays in 2024. This also led to the ejection of George Springer from the game after expressing his disagreement. While this might just be one game for the MLB, the impact it has on the team and the fans is evident.

Since the day betting became legal in pro sports, this has become a common spectacle. Umpires making bad calls have become more common than the White Sox winning games. The fans are now speculating that Manny Gonzalez might not be having a good time behind the plate, but he surely made some money after the game. If this continues, it might cause more harm to the sport than other things like “Torpedo bats”.

This might be a sarcastic comment but the more and more it is said, it looks true. The Blue Jays fans might be fuming after the game, but it was the need of the hour for the Red Sox, at least according to this fan. But the Red Sox are doing pretty well in the league but to get to the postseason you need to be great because good won’t make the cut.

And if “good won’t make the cut,” maybe it’s time we apply that same standard to the ones calling the shots. Umpiring isn’t supposed to be a performance art, yet Gonzalez keeps turning every game into his personal abstract showcase. With every blown call, the push for ABS gains steam—and rightly so. After all, if fans wanted guesswork, they’d watch a weather forecast, not a baseball game.