Replay it again ... and again ... and again

SUNDAY’S good-question man was CBS’s Ian Eagle. As seen here, when the final seconds of the Chargers-Titans game were stretched, then shredded, by three consecutive long-delay replay reviews from the half-yard line, Eagle suggested the on-field officials were signaling TD because TDs, by yet another added rule, had to be reviewed.

In other words, perhaps the replay rule, as a matter of the human condition and the NFL’s sustained, pathetic lack of foresight, had inspired the field officials to pass the buck.

The first two replay reviews microscopically determined that the Chargers had not scored, the third determined that the Chargers had lost the ball, and the game, in a goal-line pileup.

CBS’s former NFL ref, Gene Steratore, said, sure, replay makes games longer (so much for “instant”), but this was an example of the rules ensuring that the “right team” won.

Well, maybe. The replay decisions were no better than second opinions of subjective evidence.

But above and beyond, were these split-the-atom replay applications in any way intended? These were “egregious errors” that needed to be remedied? This was, again, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster turning on its master.

One is left to wonder how different MLB’s postseason would be had pros, in the biggest games of the season, done something so antiquated as run to first base. What if the Braves’ Ronald Acuna hadn’t posed a leadoff “home run” into a single in Game 1 of the NLDS versus the Cardinals? What if he’d finished where he minimally belonged — second base? The Braves didn’t score that inning.

Tuesday, in Game 1 of the World Series, the Astros’ George Springer, with one out in the eighth, hit one to deep right. Springer sprung into a wishful jumping, jogging, watching dance up the first-base line. He didn’t run until the ball hit the fence before it ricocheted toward the infield.

Last seen, Springer had rounded second then retreated. Houston, which pulled within 5-4 on Springer’s RBI hit, would have had a man on third base with one out had he run from the start. The Astros lost, 5-4.

But on Fox, despite their otherwise endless talk, Joe Buck and John Smoltz said nothing about it.

Don’t believe what you see, believe what you’re told: Final game of the Yankees-Astros ALCS. In the top of the seventh, Houston left fielder Michael Brantley made a fabulous catch.

In the bottom of the seventh, Fox’s Tom Verducci reported that Brantley successfully worked hard to become a two-way, “nine-inning player,” and thus was no longer replaced for late-inning defense.

In the eighth, Brantley was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Marisnick, his usual defensive replacement, who remained in for defense in the ninth. Again, for all the talk no one said a word about it.