Major League Baseball announced the World Series umpiring crew on Thursday, and two of the seven are working a Series for the first time: Nic Lentz and Gabe Morales join a crew headed by James Hoye, with Dan Bellino, Vic Carapazza, Tripp Gibson and Jim Wolf. Morales has the plate for Game 1 on Friday night.
The rotation gives a different umpire the plate each game: Wolf in Game 2, Lentz in Game 3. In Game 1, Lentz is at first base, Hoye — the crew chief — at second, Carapazza at third, Bellino in left field and Gibson in right, with Wolf in reserve. Alfonso Martínez and D.J. Reyburn run replay for the whole Series.
The crew, in brief
- Crew chief: James Hoye; crew: Dan Bellino, Vic Carapazza, Tripp Gibson, Jim Wolf, Nic Lentz, Gabe Morales
- Series debuts: Lentz and Morales; Lentz, 36, is the youngest Series umpire since 2022
- Plate: Game 1 Morales, Game 2 Wolf, Game 3 Lentz — a different plate umpire every game
- Replay, all Series: Alfonso Martínez and D.J. Reyburn
- ABS overturn rates this season (AP): Lentz 48.3% (9th of 76); Bellino 59.9% (65th)
Lentz, 36, is the youngest World Series umpire since Pat Hoberg in 2022. Their debuts come in the first Series played with the Automated Ball-Strike System, under which teams can challenge ball-strike calls — which means the league now publishes a number for every plate umpire: the share of their challenged calls the system overturned this season. The Associated Press listed two of the crew’s: Lentz at 48.3 percent, ninth-best among the 76 umpires who handled at least 100 challenges, and Bellino at 59.9 percent, 65th.
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