Good morning.

Here are several links from the past week that will make your Monday at the office a bit more bearable:

The Rangers’ official scoring decision of an error — charged to Texas right fielder Alex Rios — sparked a contentious debate on MLB Network, which was simulcasting the game. Emmy-winner Harold Reynolds approached berserk levels as he tried to reason with Mitch Williams, as Reynolds asserted Rougned Odor’s starting position (playing in an extreme shift against David Ortiz) made the play non-routine, while Williams insisted Rios’s failure to call off Odor constituted an error of communication, and thus a “legal” error.
Reynolds wasn’t right, either — he insisted that because the ball never touched a glove, the decision was “garbage.” By the letter of baseball’s rules, sure — it’s an error. But by convention, official scorers almost never assign an error unless a fielder makes a physical mistake in the fielding process (which generally means the fielder touches the ball).
The premise of the argument is legitimate. The way these MLB Network broadcasters go about it, though, is embarrassing. Harold Reynolds, at one point, states the scoring decision is “the worst ruling in Major League Baseball history.”

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!