Fans will remember the 2026 World Baseball Classic opener more for the controversial umpiring and less for the match itself.

Team Australia and Team Chinese Taipei kicked off the first game of pool C at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday. Travis Bazzana’s 383-foot solo home run in the seventh innings secured Australia’s 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei. Bazzana was the top MLB draft pick of the Cleveland Guardians in 2024. Yet, the loss definitely came as a shock to fans.

With Taipei as the reigning Premier12 champion and No. 2-ranked team in the world, Team Australia’s (ranked 11) win comes as a major upset. And as impressive as Bazzana was, Australia’s victory will remain marred by Omar Peralta’s questionable umpiring.

Talkin’ Baseball shared a clip of home plate umpire Peralta blowing a third strike call on Curtis Mead of Australia, prompting the Taipei catcher to apologize. On the following pitch, Mead recorded the first base hit of the tournament in 2026.

Talkin’ Baseball wrote on X, “No ABS in the World Baseball Classic already on display. Catcher apologizes to the umpire after he was about to throw the baseball around the diamond. Curtis Mead records the first hit of the WBC on the next pitch.”

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Peralta’s strike zone showed inconsistency throughout the game.

According to Fansided, Peralta missed 23 calls, and 17 of them favored Australia. Human errors are bound to happen, but Peralta’s numbers are too high to disregard the consequences.

Sports writer Carlos Linares posted an elaborate analysis on X of how many calls Peralta missed. Calling the umpiring an “absolute joke,” Linares pointed out that 6 strikes from Taipei and 5 from Australia were called as balls.

On the contrary, Peralta called 1 ball from Taipei and 11 balls from Australia as strikes. Peralta’s incorrect calls favored Australia 17 times and Taipei only 6.

Controversial umpiring is not new in baseball; even MLB playoffs are not spared from it.

Umpire Doug Eddings failed to call a strike on Randy Arozarena in a Toronto Blue Jays vs Seattle Mariners game in October.

Arozarena himself was walking out thinking he had been struck out. But after Eddings’ decision, he stayed at the plate, got hit by a pitch, following which Cal Raleigh walked. This opened up the position for Julio Rodriguez to hit a three-run home run, giving the Mariners a lead in a game they eventually won.

The first Pool C match highlighted just how much the ABS could help with fair play and prevent incorrect umpire decisions. An active ABS won’t usurp the home plate umpire’s role.

While they will still make the initial calls for every pitch, ABS will help the players challenge dubious calls and maintain transparency.

At least, Chinese Taipei would have benefited if the ABS had been active.

But unfortunately, not all stadiums have ABS installed, and Tokyo Dome is one of them.

Following this defeat, the Taipei fans are outraged.

Chinese Taipei fans react to umpiring inconsistencies

“The Worst Umpiring Game in Baseball History,” wrote one fan while posting a picture of Peralta’s stats obtained from Baseball Savant’s website. The stats show 18 strikes were called balls, and 6 balls were called strikes in the game. Peralta’s error percentage averaged at 16.90%. Notably, his error percentage increased from 14.67% during Taiwan’s batting to 19.40% during Australia’s batting.

One fan quipped, “Let’s hope for the same strike zone in the final.” Peralta’s strike zone remained inconsistent throughout the match. One glaring example is Peralta not calling the third strike on Australia’s Mead.

Another fan raised a very serious question: “Was the umpire favoring Australia because of racial discrimination against Asians? The MLB should give a clear official response.”

Peralta’s calls, along with the disparity, have forced fans to suspect racism.

“It’s amazing that baseball as a sport has existed with this level of accuracy for so long,” a user commented. Frustrated by Peralta’s umpiring tactics, a fan went ahead and sarcastically questioned baseball’s existence. In fact, the 2025 World Series saw several such instances, with one infamous one being Mark Wegner’s slow-to-react call in Game 3. Let’s take a quick recap, shall we?

The Blue Jays were hoping to get the jump on Dodgers righty Tyler Glasnow after a scoreless first inning. Bo Bichette led off the second with a single into centerfield. Then, Daulton Varsho stepped up to the plate. With Varsho standing at a 3-1 count, Glasnow threw a sinker on the fifth pitch of the at-bat. But it stayed several inches above the strike zone. While Varsho started to take his base, Wegner decided that it was actually a strike. And it was not an instant call.

Roving off the first base bag, Bichette suddenly stood in a no-mans land. And the result? The Dodgers picked him off for the first out of the inning.

“ts is a** bro holy f***. can’t wait for it to happen in a us/dr/japan game and watch people lose it on this app,” exclaimed another. Team USA, Team Japan, and Team Dominican Republic are the top three favorites. All their games will be highly scrutinized, for sure. And if such incorrect umpiring continues, the rage will definitely be even louder.

Does that mean the upcoming WBC games will feature the ABS system? We know that fans will be in favor!