Cubs broke the Padres so badly they picked a fight with the umps

There's no doubt that the controversial call during Xander Bogaerts' ninth-inning at-bat changed everything in the closing minutes of Game 3 between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres Thursday night.

After Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill cracked a solo home run to pull his team within two at 3-1, a full-count pitch from Brad Keller to Xander Bogaerts missed low (at least according to the on-screen strike zone) but was called strike three by home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn for the first out of the inning.

Padres' Xander Bogaerts restrained in heated exchange with umpires

Bogaerts was irate over the call and San Diego manager Mike Schildt ran out to defend his veteran star. But apparently it didn't stop there. A recently surfaced fan video shows Bogaerts and teammate Jose Iglesias being restrained by their coaches and other umpires as they reacted to something Reyburn said as he headed down the tunnel to the umpire room.

This is a bad look for everyone involved: Bogaerts and Iglesias, the Padres as a whole, and the umpires - namely, Reyburn. Even baseball purists in recent years have started to turn against umpires for their antics, often adding fuel to the fire in situations rather than serving as mediators or level-headed entities.

“It messed up the whole game, you know?” Bogaerts told reporters after the game. “I mean, we can’t go back in time, and talking about it now won’t change anything. So, it was bad, and thank god for ABS next year, because it’s just terrible.”

Next year, the introduction of a new ABS Challenge System will eliminate any question in these sorts of scenarios. What does that entail? Batters, catchers and pitchers will be able to challenge balls and strikes. Each team will start a game with two challenges, and only lose them when their challenges are proven wrong.

Bogaerts and Padres fans may be popping off over the call, but, depending on who you ask, it wasn't nearly as egregious as it seemed watching on the TV broadcast. Sure, that's easy for me to say as a Cubs fan, but no matter how you feel about it, there's no room for these types of interactions after a game between players and umpires.