Veteran umpire Carlson named World Series crew chief

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Carlson will be the World Series umpire crew chief, and Andy Fletcher, Mark Ripperger and Carlos Torres will make their Fall Classic debuts.

Torres, a 46-year-old who began his big league career in 2015, will work the plate for the opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium, Major League Baseball said Thursday.

Carlson, 55, made his major league debut in 1999 and will umpiring in the Series for the third time after 2015 and 2020. He will be at first base for Game 1 on Friday night, joined by Doug Eddings at second, Ripperger at third, Chad Fairchild in left and Todd Tichenor in right. Fletcher will be the reserve umpire.

This will be the second World Series for the 56-year-old Eddings after 2019, the 53-year-old Fairchild after 2018 and the 47-year-old Tichenor after 2020. Eddings made his big league debut in 1998, Fairchild in 2004 and Tichenor in 2007.

Fletcher will call balls and strikes for Game 2, followed by Carlson, Eddings, Ripperger, Fairchild and Tichenor in Game 7.

Tichenor will be the crew chief for the second game, when Carlson is a reserve.

Fletcher, 57, debuted in 1999 and Ripperger, 44, in 2010.

Ripperger had a 94.8% accuracy rate behind the plate during the season, according to umpscorecards.com. Tichenor was at 94.4%, Torres 94.2%, Fairchild 93.8%, Carlson 93.6%, Eddings 93.4% and Fletcher 93.1%.

Cory Blaser and James Hoye will be the video review umpires at the replay operations center at the commissioner’s office in New York.

All nine umpires worked in the Division Series.

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