Wegner named crew chief, 4 other umpires make World Series debuts

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Wegner will be the World Series umpire crew chief for the first time, joined by Jordan Baker, Adam Hamari, Adrian Johnson, Will Little, Alan Porter and John Tumpane for the matchup between the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

Hamari, Johnson, Little and Tumpane will be making their World Series debuts as part of the crew Major League Baseball announced Thursday.

Wegner, a 53-year-old who umpired his first big-league game in 1998, also worked the series in 2013 and 2017, when he was behind the plate for the Houston Astros' Game 7 win over the Dodgers. Porter, 47, will be working his third series after 2019 and 2022, and Baker, 43, his second following 2022.

Little will be behind the plate for Friday's opener in Toronto, with Wegner at first base, Tumpane at second, Porter at third, Hamari in left left, Baker in right and Johnson the reserve.

Johnson will work the plate in Game 2 and be followed by Wegner, Tumpane, Porter, Hamari and Baker.

Porter will be the crew chief in Game 2, when Wegner is the reserve.

Johnson, 50, debuted in 2006, Porter and the 42-year-old Tumpane in 2010 and Baker in 2012. Little, 41, worked his first game on June 24, 2013, one day before Hamari, 42.

Porter had the third-highest accuracy on balls and strikes in the major leagues this year at 95.46%, according to umpscorecards.com, trailing only Edwin Jiménez (96.18%) and Mark Ripperger (95.48%). Wegner was at 94.78% and among the World Series crew was followed by Hamari (94.77%), Little (94.72%), Tumpane (94.25%), Baker (93.91%) and Johnson (93.41%).

Dan Iassogna and Jeremie Rehak will be the video review umpires at the replay operations center in the commissioner's office in New York.

Eight of the nine umpires worked in the division series and Iassogna was a crew chief in the wild-card series.

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