MLB umpire CB Bucknor had another difficult day at the office March 31.
Three days after he had a pair of strike-three calls overturned by ABS challenges, Bucknor missed a call as the first base umpire in a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays — and it was decisively overturned by video review.
The latest mistake saw Bucknor call batter-runner Jake Bauers out in the sixth inning of the game in Milwaukee. No one was near first base when Bauer’s foot touched the bag, clearly making him safe.
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Even the Brewers’ social media team joined the dogpile after the game.
Fortunately for all involved, Bauers was allowed to stay on the bag when the missed call was overturned. Unfortunately, Bucknor’s name re-entered the news cycle for all the wrong reasons only two days after it left.
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As the home plate umpire in a March 28 game between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds, Bucknor twice called strike three against the Reds’ Eugenio Suarez in the sixth inning. Suarez challenged both calls. Both calls were overturned.
Former New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, whose 10-year MLB career (2007-16) saw him on the receiving end of Bucknor’s strike zone three times, didn’t hold back his opinion on the umpire.
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“This is so bad you just have to laugh!! Something has to be done,” Chamberlain wrote on X.
The Suarez and Bauers incidents highlight what Chamberlain and others already know. Bucknor is among the least accurate umpires in MLB. The advent of technology as a failsafe against bad calls isn’t helping his reputation.
According to the website UmpScorecards.com, Bucknor had the third-least accurate strike zone of any umpire who called even four games in 2025. That was before video replay was used to challenge calls.
The 2026 season is less than a week old. Only one man (Lance Barksdale) has umpired two games behind home plate. Yet Bucknor already ranks second in most calls overturned, with six.
This might get worse before it gets better.
