Last night’s Cub-Pirate game was a perfect example of why instant replay is important to sports and the fair outcome of games. In a scoreless game, Castro led off the bottom of the second and beat out a ground ball. The umpire called him out. I said to the person I was watching the game with, “This is why instant replay is so important. Without it, Castro is “out” and the Cubs might not score, since the leadoff batter was retired. However, they will review this and overturn it, and he’ll be safe. If the Cubs go on to score 3 runs in the inning and that plays a key role in a victory, it will be obvious why replay is so important.” The Cubs did go on to score 3 runs in the inning, which they probably would not have done had Castro been out, and those runs did play a key role in a 6-2 victory. Another call that went against the Cubs was also overturned by replay, and a third call probably should have been.