Every few years, we get a truly great hot mic moment in Major League Baseball. A lot of things have to line up perfectly.
The broadcast has to be in the right place, at the right time. The stadium can’t be going insane. The microphones have to be positioned perfectly. The manager who is presumably getting tossed, and the umpire who presumably tossed him, have to both be willing to play ball and give the people a show.
See? A lot of factors go into a perfect hot mic moment. It’s why we so rarely get one.
Home plate umpire John Libka ejects Athletics hitting coach Chris Cron during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in West Sacramento, California, on April 29, 2026. (Scott Marshall/AP Photo)
Friday night in Sacramento, we got our first really good one of the season. We did it! The stars aligned, and we — the fans — were transported right into the middle of an argument over balls and strikes between the home plate umpire and A’s manager Mark Kotsay.
BLUE JAYS MANAGER JOHN SCHNEIDER DROPS F-BOMB IN HOT MIC MOMENT WITH UMPIRE
Take a look:
ABS doesn’t excuse for being bad at your job
“That is f—ing ridiculous,” Kotsay starts out. “All I said was it was down. You missed three f—ing pitches in the first f–king inning.”
Was it the infamous Terry Collins hot mic ejection from a few years ago? No. Nothing will ever beat that one. But this was still a solid little back-and-forth between Kotsay and the ump.
And I gotta say … I’m with Kotsay here. Easy call. These umpires all think they can just hide behind ABS nowadays. Wrong. Just because teams can challenge a pitch doesn’t give you the right to be bad at your job like you now have some sort of life raft.
Manager Mark Kotsay of the Athletics talks with home plate umpire Dan Merzel after being ejected during the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, Calif., on June 19, 2026. (Scott Marshall/Getty Images)
Because here’s the thing, and Kotsay makes this very point … teams do not want to be using challenges in the first few innings. That’s ridiculous. They’re only guaranteed two a game, and using one in the first inning usually isn’t worth the risk.
“Oh, we don’t listen to it anymore, right? Because we have challenges,” Kotsay continued. “You’re gonna force us to make a challenge in the first f–king inning or second f–king inning. You’re already wrong on that ball down. All you have to do is click that f–king button and listen to it.”
The Mets, unbelievably, ran out of challenges in the second inning the other night. That’s impressively bad. It’s also just an awful strategy.
If this year has taught us anything, it’s that you never, ever, want to be like the Mets (or Red Sox).
The scoreboard displays the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge sponsored by T-Mobile during the spring training game between the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla., on March 16, 2026. (Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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So no, blue, the A’s probably aren’t going to challenge a close call in the second inning of a game in June. But that doesn’t mean you get a free pass for being bad at your job. That doesn’t mean the manager can’t complain about the zone from the dugout.
That’s baseball. That’s how this game has been played for a century now.
No amount of ABS technology should shield you from that.
