(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) While the issue of men in women’s sports has been front and center due to pushback against the transgender movement, the reverse may also be a problem, according to some Major League Baseball fans.
No females have yet made their way onto MLB teams, but critics are sounding the alarm about Jen Pawol, the league’s first female umpire, who last week made — according to one OutKick analyst — “the worst call you’ve ever seen in a game.”
The first female home plate umpire in MLB history, Jen Pawol, made the worst call you’ll ever seen in a game…
After it was challenged by the catcher, the ABS system showed just how awful it was 😬 pic.twitter.com/uEOrrXBb5G
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) March 20, 2026
During a spring-training matchup Thursday that pitted the Cincinnati Reds against the Cleveland Guardians, Pawol called a “ball” on starting Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo that detractors said was a strike straight across the plate.
Reds catcher Bo Naylor then lodged an appeal using the league’s new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, which uses artificial-intelligence technology to analyze whether pitches are in the strike zone. It swiftly overturned Pawol’s call.
The ABS challenges have generated their own controversy, with some fearing they — like other AI technology — will take the heart and soul out of the game.
Others fear the ability to judge plays with precision accuracy may beclown and render moot the entire umpire profession.
“The ABS system … is going to make a lot of people look really, really bad this season,” OutKick’s Zach Dean wrote. “I’m personally not the biggest fan of it, but I get it, and I’m excited to see the chaos that’s about to unfold starting next week.”
The jury is still out as to whether AI or DEI will pose the greater threat to America’s pastime.
Dean, for his part, was quick to deny any gender bias in his criticism of Pawol.
“[B]efore you come after me for being sexist or racist or misogynistic or whatever this makes me … don’t,” he said.
“… Fair is fair, and this is an objectively awful, yet hilarious, call,” he added. “Jen Pawol just happens to be the one making it.”
However, his OutKick colleague Jon Root pointed out on X that Pawol’s bad calls are starting to become a pattern.
“Don’t forget that Jen Pawol’s very first strike call, in her very first game behind the plate last season, was atrocious too,” he noted.
Don’t forget that Jen Pawol’s very first strike call, in her very first game behind the plate last season, was atrocious too… https://t.co/uWjexOsHOV
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) March 20, 2026
The matter may come down to a war of attrition, pitting the league’s desire to stay woke against the objective capabilities of emerging technology.
The dispute follows another controversial move by the MLB that critics fear will change the nature of the game as it announced an exclusive partnership with the sports-betting platform Polymarket — a far cry from the days when Reds great Pete Rose was banned for life from the MLB after he was caught betting on games in 1989.
We’re honored to announce MLB has named Polymarket as their Exclusive Prediction Market Exchange Partner.
Polymarket 🤝 MLB pic.twitter.com/o192gdhpZm
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) March 19, 2026
No word yet on what the Polymarket odds are in the battle between AI and DEI, but — based on league’s recent history of woke virtue-signaling — it won’t be long before MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred declares the ABS challenge system to be sexist and permanently bans it.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
