Major League Baseball has announced that by 2026, the full baseball season will be played using the ABS Challenge System and will be used full-time. This system was experimented with for several years on a trial basis during MLB spring training and this year’s All-Star Game.
MLB has been testing ABS in Triple-A since 2022 and first tried it out in spring training for the Major Leagues in 2025. The introduction of the system for 2026 has been expected for months, ever since the commissioner announced in June that he would likely propose ABS to the committee.
How does the ABS Challenge System work in MLB?
The ABS Challenge System is an automated ball and strike review system in baseball. It employs Hawk-Eye technology, which tracks the trajectory and location of each pitch to immediately determine whether the pitch was valid or whether the batter is struck out.
Each team will begin games next year with two challenges to the home plate umpire’s strike zone, and no team will lose any of its challenges if it gets the challenge right. When a challenge is issued, the umpire will review how a high-tech camera system scored the pitch, and that decision will be final.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sees ‘momentum’ for the game
“Previous rule changes that have been adopted by the Joint Competition Committee have had staying power and have created momentum for the game,” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “We used the same process with ABS that started by listening to the fans,” he said.
Considered a middle ground between so-called “robot umpires” who could call all balls and strikes and the long tradition of natural human error that comes with human umpires, the ABS Challenge System gives teams the opportunity to request a quick review of some of the most important ball strike calls in a given game.
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