The Golden Trident

By Owen Roberts

Photo courtesy of AOL.com

With one out in the bottom of the first inning of the 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Padres’ Manny Machado was down in the count 0-2 to Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. Skubal sets and delivers the next pitch, a ninety-mile-per-hour fastball that passes at Machado’s knees. The umpire deems the ball low and sets the count 1-2. Skubal taps his hat a couple of times, and players and fans alike turn their attention to the Jumbotron in center field. A few moments later, a graphic shows where the pitch crossed the plate, the bottom of the strike zone. The call is overturned, and Machado retires to his dugout with a strikeout. With that, ABS has entered the MLB.

On September 23, 2025, it was announced to the public that all regular-season and playoff Major League Baseball games in 2026 will use the ABS challenge system, which had been used during the 2025 MLB spring training, but just as an experiment. Since 2021, the automated balls and strikes system (ABS for short) has been a common feature in Single-A MiLB games. Since July 2024, Triple-A MiLB games have used this ‘robot umpire’ system for every game. It has slowly gained recognition as it’s spread throughout the minor leagues, and now it will be in effect for the entirety of the 2026 MLB season. 

Following the testing of ABS in spring training, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred reported teams being “really positive about ABS.” So how does this system work? For those who don’t know, after a pitch is thrown, the umpire decides whether it was a ball or a strike. A pitch challenge occurs when a player disagrees with the call and now has the option to challenge it to overturn the decision. Each team will start the game with two challenges. Only the current pitcher, catcher, or batter can challenge a pitch. They cannot receive hints from fielders or coaches. If a team challenges and the call is overturned, they retain the right to challenge again. If the call stands, the team loses the challenge. If a team uses up all its challenges and the game moves into extra innings, one challenge will be available for each team per extra inning played. 

This pitch challenge system will eliminate any bias an umpire may have, while implementing a strategic game plan that will undoubtedly bring more interest and excitement to the game. It may be tough for long-term fans to adapt to the progression and advancement of the game. In many cases, people have shown a dislike towards the idea of ABS. But to give a fair opinion on something, you must understand the situation. Some may say that this will backfire. It will end up as the next major cheating scandal; teams could develop their own signs and relay to the pitcher on whether to challenge. It could also remove a very important skill that catchers spend hours upon hours practicing: framing. The skill of bringing a ball inside the zone to fool an umpire into believing it’s a strike. This is a part of a game, the part that adds to the risk of a big situation. Players have learned to live with bad umpire calls, and it makes the big moments more intense. Umpire correct calls have gradually increased since balls and strikes started to get tracked. Around 88% of calls have been made correctly this year. But that 12% of missed calls could have cost a team a win, and ABS is the best solution to this. For example, in 2022, the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber was batting in the ninth inning of a 1-0 ballgame. On a full count pitch, home plate umpire Angel Hernandez called a strike on a pitch low and away. This struck out Schwarber, an out that the Phillies couldn’t afford. Situations like these happen all the time, and there’s nothing a player can do about a bad zone. ABS changes everything. The pitch would be challenged, overturned, and play would go on, the game having the most unbiased outcome. While the system may take away some long-standing elements of the game, it will begin a new chapter in the history of America’s pastime, a chapter long-awaited by many.