Cardinals' old nemesis C.B. Bucknor botches an egregious call to end a frustration-filled loss to the White Sox

As hopes of contending in the 2024 season grow bleaker by the day, the St. Louis Cardinals got no help from umpiring in Saturday's loss to the Chicago White Sox. With Oli Marmol's old nemesis C.B. Bucknor calling balls and strikes, fans already expected an ump-show behind the plate, but what they got was much worse.

After the White Sox scored the ghost runner in the 10th inning, breaking a 5-5 tie, White Sox reliever and former Cardinal John Brebbia immediately got into trouble by loading the bases. However, once rain started pouring down, Bucknor decided to let the game play on despite the nasty conditions as Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn both went down on strikes.

However, once Nolan Gorman stepped up to bat, the umpiring crew finally decided to pause the game as John Brebbia could not grip the ball properly in the downpour. Had Bucknor called the game off earlier, perhaps the three-hour delay would've been much shorter, but the field was completely unplayable and needed to be completely redone.

Regardless of his questionable decision to continue play amidst a violent rainstorm, Bucknor promptly reminded Cardinals players and coaches alike why Oliver Marmol once said, "I think he has zero class as a man." With a new lefty on the mound for Chicago, Nolan Gorman was lifted in favor of Ivan Herrera, who worked a 1-2 count after starting down 0-1 thanks to Gorman. On the final pitch of the at-bat and the game, Bucknor rang up Herrera on a pitch in the opposite batter's box.

Herrera was stunned as the Cardinals fell to one of the worst teams in baseball in a very winnable game. Cardinals fans who stayed through the lengthy delay were treated to another episode of the ump show and could not have been more disappointed. We put out a list of the most egregious missed calls against the Cardinals recently on Redbird Rants, and this surely will make the cut next time.

While the blame cannot entirely be put on Bucknor for this unfortunate defeat, ending the game on such a blatant missed call hurt most of all. Umpires need to be held accountable for their mistakes, but Bucknor will likely face no consequences whatsoever.