Someone had to fill Angel Hernandez’s shoes as the worst umpire in baseball. Hunter Wendelstedt has his hat in the ring.

Jul 5, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt (21) looks on from behind home plate during the fourth inning between the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

There are three constants in the universe: Death. Taxes. And MLB umpires doing their best to ruin baseball games.

Make no mistake, third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt did indeed ruin Wednesday night’s matchup between the two best teams in the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

After the Dodgers won Game 1 and the Phillies took Game 2, it was to be a decisive Game 3 in Los Angeles. The game reflected the evenness of the matchup through five innings too. The Dodgers led 4-3 going into the top of the sixth inning.

From there, Wendelstedt got in the way of more exciting baseball by making an absolutely horrendous interference call on LA third baseman Miguel Rojas. Dave Roberts was so furious over the call that he got ejected.

Can you blame Roberts? Frankly, it’s amazing he wasn’t more demonstrative than he was. It was a ridiculous call, one that ultimately changed the game.

Hunter Wendelstedt’s interference call screwed over the Dodgers

With Roberts heading to the showers, the Phillies had a men on first and third with no outs when they should have had a man on first with one out. JT Realmuto grounded out to third in the next at-bat, driving Bohm home to tie the game at 4-4.

So, a runner that should never have been there tied the game when the Dodgers should have collected their second out of the inning with still just one man on base. And it got worse from there.

Nick Castellanos drew a walk before Bryson Stott flied out to right. That should have ended the inning. But because of Wendelstedt’s insanity, Philadelphia had just two outs and men on first and second.

Johan Rojas walked to load the bases. Brandon Marsh scored on Joe Kelly’s wild pitch. And, of course, Kyle Schwarber hit a moonshot 426 feet to bring home all the remaining runners and make it 8-4. That was Schwarber’s second home run and third hit of the game. It was an inevitable outcome following a horrific call.