Baseball finally let the robots call balls and strikes this season. Joe Davis would like them to handle the half-swings, too.
The Fox play-by-play voice made that argument Saturday night after a check swing ended Game 2 of the World Series. The Tampa Bay Rays were down to their last out against the Milwaukee Brewers, trailing 5-4 in the ninth inning with a runner on third, when Yandy Díaz tried to hold up on a full-count pitch.
The Brewers hang on with a 5-4 victory to take a 2-0 series lead!
Joe Davis has the World Series call for Fox. ⚾️🎙️ https://t.co/7m8nHKiKnt
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 25, 2026
Ultimately, it was ruled that Díaz had indeed offered at the pitch, and Game 2 belonged to the Brewers.
“We got ABS for the first time this year, getting the balls and strikes right; we need to get a system that can get [check-swings] right,” Davis said.
“We got ABS for the first time this year, getting the balls and strikes right; we need to get a system that can get [check-swings] right.” – Joe Davis
https://t.co/PVQ1X9S4qf
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 25, 2026
The problem, as it has been for over a century, is that nobody can agree on what a swing actually is. MLB’s official rules don’t define a check swing at all, so the call comes down to an umpire’s discretion on whether the batter “offered” at the pitch, usually guided by loose rules of thumb like whether the barrel crossed the front of the plate or the wrists rolled over. When the home plate umpire rules no swing, the catcher can appeal to the first or third base umpire for a second opinion, which is exactly what Brewers catcher William Contreras did. But that’s where the process ends, because check swings aren’t on MLB’s list of reviewable plays, and this season’s ABS Challenge System only covers whether a pitch was in the strike zone, not whether the hitter went around.
Once first base umpire James Hoye rang up Díaz, the Rays had no recourse.
MLB already has a fix in the works, but it’s been confined to the minor leagues. The Check Swing Challenge system debuted as an experiment in the Arizona Fall League, landed in the Single-A Florida State League in May 2025, and moved up to Triple-A this season, where Pacific Coast League players can now contest check-swing calls, and International League umpires use the system’s standard to make the calls themselves. The format will look familiar to anyone who watched ABS this year. Umpires still make the original ruling; the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge it afterward, and the same Hawk-Eye cameras that track the strike zone determine whether the call stands.
By that standard, Baseball America’s JJ Cooper pointed out that Díaz never went around and should have walked to keep the game going. (That’s small consolation for the Rays, who now head home down 0-2.)
If current ABS check swing rules (as used in parts of MiLB) were in place this would not have been a swing.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) October 25, 2026
Just don’t expect check-swing challenges in the majors next season, however much the Rays and their fans, or even the voice of the World Series, might want them. That’s because Rob Manfred told The Athletic in 2025 that he wanted players to get comfortable with ABS before bringing check-swing challenges to the majors, and after one full season of the challenge system, the league still hasn’t said when that next step will come. It also has bigger fish to fry, with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Dec. 1 and a possible lockout looming over the offseason.
So for now, Davis will have to settle for making his case from the booth. If nothing else, he got a rare October night off from being the villain.