MLB says umpires may have made mistake in foul ball saga during ninth inning of Padres-Cubs game

Major League Baseball made the rare decision on Tuesday afternoon to address a controversial call in the game between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs on Monday night. 

Padres closer Mason Miller, who’s been all but unhittable to start the 2026 regular season, entered the game with his team leading 9-5. On a 1-1 count, Cubs infielder Matt Shaw hit a weak dribbler down the third base line that teetered on the edge of fair or foul. 

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Padres third baseman Ty France tried to wait for the ball to roll into foul territory, which it appeared, at least from the camera angles, to do. While one portion hovered over the foul line, most of the ball appeared to be in foul territory. But home plate umpire Dan Merzel, who was right on top of the play, called it fair.

Petco Park fans, and Padres manager Craig Stammen, were not happy. And Major League Baseball addressed those concerns, admitting an error was made. 

Major League Baseball appears to say umpires got the controversial call wrong

The Athletic’s Dennis Lin, who covers the Padres, contacted the league office for an explanation of the call on the field. And the league’s response seems to contradict how Merzel ruled.

Lin said that the league pointed him to its Umpire Manual, which says that a ball must be “in contact” with fair territory to not be considered foul.

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“When in contact with the ground, a ball must be in contact with fair territory and not merely over fair territory in order to be adjudged to be fair.”

While stopping short of saying that the call was a complete mistake, that response does seem to indicate that the league disagreed with the call on the field. And it’s a tough one to judge exclusively from camera angles. Cameras have a different perspective than the umpire on the ground, who couldn’t have been in a better position. Many comments on social media felt that the ruling was consistent with the league’s official rules, as well as precedent set by similar plays and calls.

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For his part, France thought it went foul, telling reporters after the game, “It stopped rolling, and I thought it was foul, but they said otherwise.”

Shaw wound up coming in to score, ending Miller’s 34 ⅔ inning long scoreless streak, but after a brief rally, Miller and the Padres held on to win 9-7. Miller was short and to the point with his response to it, “Padres win,” he said. “That’s what matters at the end of the day.”