Barrett, Márquez, Meals, Nelson MLB wild-card crew chiefs

NEW YORK (AP) — Ted Barrett, Alfonso Márquez, Jerry Meals and Jeff Nelson will be the crew chiefs for baseball’s new wild-card series that start Friday, and Mark Carlson, Marvin Hudson, Dan Iassogna and Bill Miller will be crew chiefs for the Division Series next week.

Barrett will work the AL series between Cleveland and Tampa Bay and will start at third base in the opener, as will all crew chiefs. He will be joined for Game 1 by Doug Eddings behind the plate, Adam Hamari at first base, Quinn Wolcott at second, Hunter Wendelstedt in left field and Chad Whitson in right.

Umpires rotate from right field to left and then clockwise around the bases starting at third, meaning crew chiefs will not be scheduled for the plate in the best-of-three wild card series.

Meals will umpire the AL series between Toronto and Seattle and will be joined by Lance Barrett behind the plate for the opener, Todd Tichenor at first base, Brian Knight at second, Andy Fletcher in left field and Roberto Ortiz in right.

Nelson will work the NL series between St. Louis and Philadelphia and be joined in Game 1 by D.J. Reyburn behind the plate, Vic Carapazza at first base, Mike Muchlinski at second, Laz Diaz in left field and John Libka in right.

Márquez will umpire the NL series between the New York Mets and San Diego and be joined in the opener by Adrian Johnson behind the plate, Chris Guccione at first bae, Chris Conroy at second, Bruce Dreckman in left field and Ben May in right.

Whitson, Ortiz, Libka and May will be making their postseason debuts.

Dan Bellino, Rob Drake, Manny Gonzalez and Mark Wegner will be the replay umpires.

Iassogna will work the best-of-five Division Series involving the New York Yankees and will work the opener at second base, as will the other crew chiefs. He will be joined in the opener by Jordan Baker behind the plate, Jeremie Rehak at first base, Will Little at third, Alan Porter in left field and Mark Ripperger in right.

Hudson will umpire the series involving Houston and be joined in Game 1 by Pat Hoberg behind the plate, Jansen Visconti at first base, Cory Blaser at third, James Hoye in left field and Carlos Torres in right.

Carlson will work the series involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and be joined for the opener by Tripp Gibson behind the plate, Chris Segal at first base, John Tumpane at third, Lance Barksdale in left field and Scott Barry in right.

Miller will work the series involving Atlanta and be joined for Game 1 by David Rackley behind the plate, Nic Lentz at first base, Stu Scheurwater at third, Chad Fairchild in left field and Ryan Blakney in right.

Ramon De Jesus, Mike Estabrook, Gabe Morales and Bill Welke will be the replay umpires for the Division Series.

Rehak had the highest accuracy of ball/strike calls this season at 95.5%, according to umpscorecards.com, followed by Hoberg (95.3%) and Gibson (95%).

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