John Schneider calls out umpire for 'deliberate' delayed call against Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays fans probably won’t ever think the umpires are on their side — even in the World Series.
And in Monday night’s Game 3 between the Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers, one early game call looked like it could be a pretty pivotal one.
With Daulton Varsho at the plate and having a 3-1 count, there seemed to be a bit of miscommunication between the batter, the umpire, and Toronto baserunner Bo Bichette.
Varsho initially thought the fifth pitch in the at-bat from Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow was called a ball, giving him a free pass to first. You can understand why, because the pitch appeared to miss the strike zone.
I assume the umpire whispered "strike two" pic.twitter.com/FVEpvjfqjf
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) October 28, 2025
But home plate umpire Mark Wegner took quite a while making his signal, eventually calling strike two on Varsho, who was midway through the process of seemingly heading to first.
Bo Bichette gets tagged out at first after thinking Daulton Varsho was walked pic.twitter.com/eS2zUGQF4M
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 28, 2025
Bichette seemed to get his internal wires crossed at first base, getting tagged out after starting towards second base and seeming to think it was a walk.
Speaking with Fox’s Ken Rosenthal in a mid-game interview, Toronto manager John Schneider didn’t exactly mince his words when talking about his conversation.
“Very delayed call, pretty deliberate. Just didn’t say anything, so Varsh assumed it was a ball and Bo assumed”
John Schneider spoke with @Ken_Rosenthal about what happened on the strike call in the 2nd inning pic.twitter.com/8kkYXlhdQF
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 28, 2025
“Mark’s a great umpire, been doing it a long time. Very delayed call, pretty deliberate. Just didn’t say anything, so [Varsho] assumed it was a ball and [Bichette] assumed,” Schneider said about the home plate umpire.
“I just asked him, in this environment, can he be a little bit quicker, a little bit more clarity, so everyone kinda knows what’s going on.”