Cubs' walk-off loss to Giants feels even worse after umpire's accuracy revealed

For the first time this season, the Chicago Cubs were swept in a three-game series. The Cubs fell to the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Thursday, and it felt like a game where the Cubs couldn't catch a break. Making things even worse was that home plate umpire David Rackley had a bad day at the office.

We're not saying that Rackley being terrible at his job is the reason why the Cubs lost on Thursday, but it just speaks to the reason why the automatic ball-strike challenge needs to arrive in Major League Baseball next season. Of course, before then, when an umpire is bad at his job, Craig Counsell will make sure they are aware of that fact.

Cubs loss to Giants stings more after umpire's bad calls come to light

Counsell is never going to have a reaction that rivals Willson Contreras, but when the Cubs' offense is struggling to score runs as it is, his frustrations likely boiled over with Rackley's poor performance.

The good news is that arguing over strike calls could come to an end as soon as next season. After testing the ABS challenge system in spring training this season, there will be an effort to bring it to the regular season. If implemented, it would dramatically change instances like what occurred with Counsell and the Cubs on Thursday. If a player doesn't agree with the call, they can tap their helmet to indicate a challenge, and the system will remove the drama from the situation.

Of course, complaining about the accuracy of a home plate umpire speaks to how far off track the Cubs' season has become. Sure, the Cubs remain on a path to reach the playoffs, but their offense has lacked the firepower they had at the start of the season. If Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Seiya Suzuki were swinging the bat like they were during the early months of the season, chances are the home plate umpire's awful day wouldn't have even been noticed on Thursday.

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