ABS challenge system is coming to MLB in 2026: Here's what you need to know --- Starting this season, batters, pitchers and catchers will have the ability to challenge ball and strike calls

This could be a real game-changer, literally. Games now stand to be won or lost based on a robot.


aaaaaand it's off to a grand start, LMAO

https://x.com/PitchingNinja/st...420863218712629?s=20

What's the point of having an umpire then?

So, if this works out, eventually every single pitch will be challenged. The umpire will be relegated to calling only tags. I'm sure Vegas has already posted over/under for how many season it will take until this happens.

Then it will be robot ball players. I guess I shold be glad that I am old enough to probably not see it happen.

Give me back the baseball of old!

Lets have technology take the fun out of the game. That would leave people like Leo Durocher out of a job. Replay screwed up football why not baseball? I doubt Little League can afford the tech so we can all watch that. Maybe they can have tech to replace the first base umpire. They keep this stuff up and they will be left with robots as fans.

Are there any limits? There should be some restraints/consequences like NFL challenges. Otherwise this could get old fast.

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Originally posted by smschulz:
Are there any limits? There should be some restraints/consequences like NFL challenges. Otherwise this could get old fast.

From the article:

quote:

--Each team will have two challenges to begin each game, and all successful challenges will be retained.

--Only the batter, catcher and pitcher are allowed to challenge a ball or strike call; protests from the bench or elsewhere on the field are prohibited, and umpires have the ability to deny a challenge if they believe it was aided or influenced by anyone else on field or in the dugout.

--To challenge a call, the pitcher, catcher or batter must tap his head immediately (in less than two seconds, roughly) to initiate a review. At that point, the umpire will announce the call is being challenged, and a graphic showing the ball’s location as determined by ABS will be displayed on the scoreboard and broadcast. The result of the challenge will be announced, and play continues. (In the past, even before ABS was a factor, there have sometimes been minor discrepancies between the strike zone displayed on the broadcast, the one embedded in MLB’s Gameday app and the one appearing on Baseball Savant’s Gamefeeds. MLB is working to ensure that all available forms of the strike zone are reflective of the zone being used by the ABS challenge system.)

--MLB defines the strike zone as “a two-dimensional rectangle that is set in the middle of home plate with the edges of the zone set to the width of home plate (17 inches) and the top and bottom adjusted based on each individual player’s height (53.5% of the batter’s height at the top and 27% at the bottom).” If any part of the ball is touching that strike zone — as tracked by the Hawk-Eye cameras — it is considered a strike.

--Because the system is based entirely on player height, MLB has arranged for independent testers to measure all players during spring training using a standardized process to ensure that no player’s zone is too large or small based on a misreported height.

--If a game goes to extra innings, each team will be awarded one extra challenge each inning, but only if they do not have any remaining. For example, a team that has two challenges left after nine innings would not gain a third challenge for the 10th, but a team with zero challenges remaining after nine innings would regain one challenge for the 10th. This repeats with each successive extra inning.

--Challenges cannot be used if a position player is pitching.

And everyone gets to go home at the break of dawn. Hahaha.

I thought MLB was trying to speed up the games.

I don't know how accurate the strike zone really is with these systems, but at least it gives the impression of being objective. Whether or not the strike zone is accurate for each individual batter is my main question. Rather than have the players challenge, they should just have a buzz in the umpire's earpiece for strike and silence for a ball.

At least the system gives the players and fans less to argue about and would speed up the whole process. You would still need the home plate umpire for fair/foul, balks, catcher's interference, not to mention just the flow of the game.

I'm 65 years old and used to love professional baseball. I don't even watch it any more because the game today sucks.

I played Little League, Babe Ruth and at the D3 level at the Coast Guard Academy. I started playing adult baseball (Men's Senior Baseball League (MSBL) in 1990. I have played every year since with exception of a couple of years due to injuries. I currently admin a 6 team league for 40+ and 55+ age groups. I manage one of the 40+ teams. I play on a 55+ team. I have played in the MSBL World Series (AZ), Fall Classic (FL) and various Roy Hobbs and other League tournaments over the years. Not that I am a great player, I am very average, I just mention all of this to say that I am a lifelong fan of the game of baseball and it has been a huge part of my life to this day.

4 years ago I started umpiring High School baseball in order to give back to the game. I umped 2 HS games last night. I have one today. It has really changed my perspective on the game and I have come to hate the constant chattering about calls from the parents, coaches and to a lesser extent the actual players.

I've been in the game for almost 60 years and I know the game. I call balls and strikes as best I can and study the rule book to get the other calls correct as well. It's all a lot harder than it looks and the constant gripes from all sides is frustrating and irritating. I ignore it the best I can and do my best to be in position and make the call as I see it. I hustle. I respect the game. I am professional. But I am also human and will make mistakes. I hate it when I do and I fret over calls I think I may have missed for days, running over them in my head, some from a couple of seasons back.

Automated balls and strikes would be awesome, just to get the constant chair umps to complain about the machine instead of the plate umpire. I'd be all for it. But there will still be lots of other calls for everyone to complain about.

Last year in a 55+ game I got rung up on a called third strike, low and away pitch that actually just skipped off the ground into the catcher's mitt. The ump was a young guy just starting out and he just missed it, low and away being the toughest to get right. I told the ump that it bounced and turned around and went to the dugout. I had to laugh as there is nothing else to do, it's just a game. 5 years ago I might have got myself tossed, but now I laugh it off and move on.

Sorry for the long post and thread drift PASig.

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Originally posted by Schmelby:
I thought MLB was trying to speed up the games.

This is exactly what I thought. Today’s NBA is unwatchable, mostly due to rules. Allowing Zone defense, stupid rules, allowing 3 steps (that’s traveling), no defense, and games are basically 3 point line to 3 point line, 3 point shooting contests. Just unwatchable. But I “used” to tune in after the games to hear Shaq, Kenny, and Charles bust balls and catch the final 5 minutes of a game or something. Well the NBA has challenges now and my goodness, challenge is called. Lots of standing around, then they go to commercial. This shit just ruins games, and they were already ruined. The game has been around for decades, what 50’s pertaining to NBA? Baseball over 100 years? Respect the legacy, protect it. You go fucking with it too much and ruin it. Every sport but Hockey and I don’t watch Hockey.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
So, if this works out, eventually every single pitch will be challenged. The umpire will be relegated to calling only tags. I'm sure Vegas has already posted over/under for how many season it will take until this happens.

Then it will be robot ball players. I guess I shold be glad that I am old enough to probably not see it happen.

Give me back the baseball of old!

Yep... I prefer humans.

They should have just stuck with letting the system call all balls and strikes. Players and fans will get used to it. Slowing the game down in baseball is the wrong direction to go.

quote:

Automated balls and strikes would be awesome, just to get the constant chair umps to complain about the machine instead of the plate umpire. I'd be all for it. But there will still be lots of other calls for everyone to complain about.

Yeah that is the ticket;the game is about keeping the Ump happy even if there is only one fan left in the stands.

I like it, and I think it's showing just how frequently inaccurate umpires are (nothing against them, I couldn't do it). I love the human factor, but it should be the human factor of the players on the field not blown calls changing the outcome of games.

My point ZS, is simply that if you are going to use the automation, use it to its fullest potential and expedite the process. Not that the main concern is to keep the umps happy.

And honestly, as far as professional baseball is concerned, I don't give a flip about whether there are any fans or not. It's basically dead to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
I like it, and I think it's showing just how frequently inaccurate umpires are (nothing against them, I couldn't do it). I love the human factor, but it should be the human factor of the players on the field not blown calls changing the outcome of games.

Agreed, which is why, as an umpire, I am all for video review and the use of automation if available. I know I miss calls, I feel terrible when I do, especially when it has a direct outcome on a game.

In Hockey you recieve a delay of game penalty if you challenge and the call is upheld.

Try this:

In baseball, if the batter challenges and is wrong, he is OUT. Likewise, if the pitcher or catcher challenges and is wrong, the batter takes first base.

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Originally posted by 12131:
And everyone gets to go home at the break of dawn. Hahaha.

But seriously, two challenges per team per game is not going to significantly delay the already long game. No one is going to even notice. A blown call that alters the outcome hugely* can now be corrected.

* See Jim Joyce.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
And everyone gets to go home at the break of dawn. Hahaha.

But seriously, two challenges per team per game is not going to significantly delay the already long game. No one is going to even notice. A blown call that alters the outcome hugely* can now be corrected.

* See Jim Joyce.

No and the pitch clock which I hated at first has actually sped up the game by sometimes 30-40 minutes compared to the old days.

The pitcher can't stand there and scratch his balls and take forever now. I think in some ways it's forcing pitchers to throw better now.

Just leave the sport alone.Automation is ok for bowling. BTW in tennis at all levels the players make the calls. I much prefer that. The tennis coach told me that was because it was the sport of kings.