Umpires for WC, Division Series announced
Major League baseball has announced the umpiring crews assigned to the 2015 postseason games during the Wild Card round and Division Series.
Ted Barrett and John Hirschbeck will be the crew chiefs for the two Wild Card Games, while Gary Cederstrom, Gerry Davis, Dana DeMuth and Dale Scott will serve as the crew chiefs for the Division Series.
Barrett's crew will umpire the American League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. He will be joined by Eric Cooper -- who will be behind the plate -- Chris Conroy, Paul Emmel, Manny Gonzalez and Bill Miller, a regular-season crew chief.
In Pittsburgh for Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser, Hirschbeck's crew will include home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson, a regular-season crew chief and 18-year Major League umpire, along with Cory Blaser, Mike Estabrook, Jim Reynolds and Hunter Wendelstedt.
The American League Division Series begin Thursday. Davis, whose 134 career postseason games are the most all-time, and his crew, will handle the Royals series against the AL Wild Card winner. He'll start in Kansas City alongside Lance Barksdale, Mike Everitt, Angel Hernandez, Ron Kulpa and Todd Tichenor. Scott's crew will handle the Rangers and Blue Jays series beginning in Toronto with Dan Bellino, Vic Caparazza, James Hoye, Marvin Hudson and Alfonso Marquez.
Cederstrom will be the crew chief for the Mets and Dodgers series beginning in Los Angeles on Friday. He will work with Chad Fairchild, Greg Gibson, Chris Guccione, Alan Porter and Jim Wolf. The final series in St. Louis belongs to DeMuth, who worked his 4,000th career Major League game this season. He will be joined by Mark Carlson, Phil Cuzzi, Brian Knight, Bill Welke and regular-season crew chief Mike Winters.
Dan Iassogna and Mark Wegner will be the replay officials in New York during the Wild Card Games, while Kerwin Danley, Paul Nauert, Brian O'Nora and Tim Welke, a regular-season crew chief, will fill those roles during the Division Series.