Does baseball need even more technology for plays like Pete Alonso's disputed fly ball?

August 21, 2026 - 04:03

The New York Yankees edged out the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 on Wednesday night, but the game's most talked-about moment had nothing to do with the final score. In the late innings, Pete Alonso launched a deep fly ball down the right field line. The umpire immediately ruled it foul, and after a lengthy video review, the call stood. Replays appeared to show the ball clipping the yellow line at the top of the wall, which would have made it a home run. But the angles were inconclusive, and the original ruling held.

That sequence has once again raised a familiar question: does baseball need even more technology to get these calls right? The sport already uses Statcast, Hawk-Eye, and a replay system for boundary calls. Yet plays like Alonso's expose a gap. The ball's exact point of impact with a padded wall or a painted line is often hidden from every camera. No angle showed a definitive mark, and the human eye could not settle it either.

Some fans argue for a sensor embedded in the ball or the wall itself. Others point out that adding more gadgets would slow the game further and strip away the human element that makes umpiring part of the sport's charm. The league has not commented on any new proposals, but the debate is unlikely to fade. For now, the Orioles have to live with the loss, and Alonso has to wonder what might have been. One thing is clear: the line between fair and foul is getting harder to see, even with all the technology already in place.