Barriers could cut down fan element

HOUSTON — Would you rather give your fans great access, or a great win?

In an ideal world, that wouldn’t represent a zero-sum game question for baseball teams, who would love to deliver both to their customers.

However, the controversial call in Wednesday night’s American League Championship Series Game 4 at Minute Maid Park, one that made the difference in the Red Sox’s 8-6 victory over the Astros, showed that teams — and umpires — could avoid a great deal of agita if all teams created a separation between their players and their fans. Managers A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora, whose fortunes turned greatly thanks to this lack of separation, both struggled out loud with this concept before coming down on the side of change. Such a barrier already has been implemented in places like Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park and Washington’s Nationals Park in the form of flower beds.

In the bottom of the first inning Wednesday night, with the Red Sox already owning a 2-0 lead, the Astros had a runner on first and one out when reigning AL Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve launched a fly ball to deep right field, seemingly over the wall. When Boston’s Mookie Betts leaped to try to make a great catch, his glove was closed by a fan attempting to get to the ball.

Right-field umpire Joe West, positioned a fair distance from the play, called Altuve out by virtue of fan interference. And after a 3-minute, 13-second review by MLB officials at its Manhattan replay center, the call stood because a definitive angle didn’t exist to show where Betts’ glove and the fan’s hands were when they met. Such an angle didn’t emerge because a ballpark security guard inadvertently blocked that camera as he followed the flight of the ball.

The Astros wound up losing by exactly two runs, which the opposite ruling would have produced, making the night even more painful for the home team.